Following each week of the NRL season, nswrl.com.au selects the round’s best 13 of New South Wales eligible players. These selections are based on the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSWRL or the selection process for the Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues. Captaincy is awarded based on that week's on-field performance and is not based on club captaincy or leadership qualities.
1. Cody Ramsey. Club: St George Illawarra Dragons. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 1.
One of St George Illawarra’s highly-touted youngsters, Ramsey returned to his favoured fullback position for the first time since Round 12 last year and took the opportunity with both hands.
Against the Warriors on Saturday he scored a try and set up another, had two line-breaks and three tackle busts, ran for 206 metres and made five tackles without a miss.
2. Taylan May. Club: Penrith Panthers. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 3.
He might not have appeared on the scoreboard for Penrith in Round 11, but May was one of the strongest of the Panthers’ back five against the Roosters at the SCG. May’s 217 run metres was the third time he surpassed the double century for 2022, along with 76 post-contact metres, two tackle busts and no errors.
3. Moses Suli. Club: St George Illawarra Dragons. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 3.
It’s back-to-back TOTW selections for Suli after another very strong display for the Red V. In the Dragons’ win over the Warriors he ran for a massive 228 metres including 97 post-contact from 20 carries, with six tackle busts to boot.
4. Zac Lomax. Club: St George Illawarra Dragons. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 1.
With a pair of NSW centre spots up for grabs a matter of days, Lomax came up with two tries for Dragons on the weekend in what was arguably his best performance this season. Additionally he kicked four goals from five attempts, had a line-break and four tackle busts, ran for 104 metres, threw two offloads and made 10 tackles with no misses.
5. Reuben Garrick. Club: Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 2.
Garrick finds himself in the TOTW for the second time with another double to bring up seven tries for the season so far. In Manly’s narrow loss to Parramatta he also managed a line-break, four tackle busts, 227 run metres with 70 post-contact and 85 from kick returns, two offloads and zero errors.
6. Talatau Amone. Club: St George Illawarra Dragons. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 1.
Having been promoted to the No.6 jersey for the past few weeks following a stint on the bench, Amone’s output on Saturday afternoon earned the 20-year-old a well-deserved first TOTW appearance. In St George Illawarra’s six-point victory he recorded two try assists, a line-break, one line-break assist, seven tackle busts and 144 run metres – all without an error to his name.
7. Nicho Hynes (c). Club: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 4.
After the Sharks’ loss last week with Hynes at No.1, he slotted back to the halfback role on Sunday and everything seemed to fall into place on the way to a 25-18 win against the Titans. He came up with a try, try assist and line-break assist, four from four conversions and a field goal, 439 kick metres with a forced drop-out, 97 run metres and 26 tackles.
8. Toby Rudolf. Club: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 1.
Rudolf makes his first appearance in the NSW TOTW for 2022. The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks prop turned in a solid performance against the Gold Coast Titans after running for 165m - the second most metres by any player in the game – in trying conditions with almost half those gained post-contact. He also bent his back for 31 tackles and only missed one.
9. Reece Robson. Club: North Queensland Cowboys. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 2.
Robson makes his TOTW return and rightly so after turning in a great performance for the North Queensland Cowboys in their win over the Melbourne Storm. He scored a try against the NRL’s second-placed team, made 34 tackles, had a line-break, line-break assist, a try assist and an offload.
10. Payne Haas. Club: Brisbane Broncos. SOO appearances: 7. TOTW selections: 8.
Haas is a regular performer for the NSW TOTW and was a standout in the forwards for the Brisbane Broncos against the Newcastle Knights. He ran for 181 metres with 85 of those post-contact, and made 34 tackles without missing one.
11. Hudson Young. Club: Canberra Raiders. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 2.
Young led the way for the Canberra Raiders in their 32-12 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He scored a try, made two line-breaks, had a line-break assist, two tackle breaks and an offload, made 21 tackles and churned out 100 metres from his 13 runs.
12. Ryan Matterson. Club: Parramatta Eels. SOO appearances: 0. TOTW selections: 5.
Despite not being on the field for the full 80 minutes, Matterson still helped the Parramatta Eels to a hard-fought 22-20 win over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. He ran for 177 metres from 24 runs, came up with six offloads, and made 32 tackles with a 100 percent success rate.
13. Isaah Yeo. Club: Penrith Panthers. SOO appearances: 5. TOTW selections: 5.
Yeo continues to hold a mortgage on the lock position in the NSW TOTW. He ran for 105 metres and produced a sublime short ball to put Scott Sorensen into a hole which led to the opening try for Jarome Luai. As well as a line-break, Yeo also came up with 43 tackles.
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