Crawley Files: The two key players at every NRL premiership contender
With seven rounds of the regular NRL season remaining, Paul Crawley identifies the 18 most influential money men on the run to the finals.
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It’s a combined $14m-plus in rugby league talent from the nine remaining genuine premiership contenders who will decide this year’s premiership race.
With the help of Fox Sports Stats, PAUL CRAWLEY identifies the 18 most influential money men who need to stand up with seven rounds of the regular season remaining, kicking off with Friday night’s back-to-back blockbusters between the Warriors v Raiders and Rabbitohs v Broncos.
BRISBANE BRONCOS
MONEY MEN
ADAM REYNOLDS
Salary: $850,000
Key stat: Just one short of 20 try assists in back-to-back seasons for first time since 2012-14.
Crawley says: We’re way past what could have been had Reynolds stayed at the Rabbitohs. What can’t be disputed is at 33 the little maestro is playing the best footy of his career. And Reynolds could still come back to haunt his former club given Friday’s showdown on the Sunshine Coast could go a long way to determining which club finishes top four. History shows no team of the NRL era has won the comp coming from outside the top four.
REECE WALSH
Salary: $450,000
Key stat: Has a career-high 18 try assists from just 14 games this season.
Crawley says: Turned 21 this month and neck-and-neck with Shaun Johnson for this season’s best buy when you compare their salaries to most others on this list. To put Walsh’s wage in perspective, he’s on less than a third of what Kalyn Ponga is pocketing at the Knights ($1.4m). Yet after claiming Ponga’s Queensland No.1 jumper, Walsh’s return from suspension this week provides the genuine X-factor that makes the Broncos a legitimate premiership force.
Five key players: Adam Reynolds, Payne Haas, Reece Walsh, Pat Carrigan, Billy Walters
CANBERRA RAIDERS
MONEY MEN
JACK WIGHTON
Salary: $1.05m
Key stat: Fewest try assists (7) by a five-eighth to start in more than 10 times. Career low for average run metres (51)
Crawley says: Let’s face it, the Raiders’ highest paid player hasn’t exactly set the world on fire this season, despite how well the team is travelling. But this is Wighton’s chance to go out with a bang ahead of his move to the Rabbitohs. His form will be key in the run home starting with the huge Friday night clash with the Warriors.
JOSEPH TAPINE
Salary: $950,000
Key stat: Averaging career-high for tackles per game (31). Payne Haas is the only middle forward to have made more run metres since the start of 2021 (8,242)
Crawley says: Canberra’s most important player who flies under the radar compared to the spotlight shone on some of the game’s other star props. Yet it’s as clear as night and day the difference for the Raiders when Tapine is on the field and when he’s not.
Five key men: Joseph Tapine, Jack Wighton, Jordan Rapana, Jamal Fogarty, Hudson Young
SHARKS
MONEY MEN
NICHO HYNES
Salary: $620,000
Key stat: Leads NRL in linebreak assists (31) and equal third most try assists (21); kicked equal most goals (63)
Crawley says: No question the Sharks have got bang for their buck since Hynes arrived untested as a week-to-week chief playmaker. But it’s now up to the reigning Dally M medallist to prove he can also own the big games given the Sharks terrible record against top-eight teams.
DALE FINUCANE
Salary: $760,000
Key stat: His experience is invaluable for the Sharks given Finucane has played in the finals every season of his career.
Crawley says: If anyone is going to find a way to teach the Sharks how to beat top-eight opposition it’s the fearless skipper who returns from suspension this round to take on the Sea Eagles in a must-win game for both teams. While there’s nothing pretty about Finucane’s style, they don’t call him ‘Johnny Rambo’ for nothing.
Five key men: Nicho Hynes, Blayke Brailey, Will Kennedy, Briton Nikora, Dale Finucane
STORM
MONEY MEN
CAMERON MUNSTER
Salary: $1.25m
Key stat: Only five-eighth or halfback to average 100 run metres (10+ games in the halves)
Crawley says: Turned down the big money offers to stay at the Storm because Munster felt it was his best chance to win another premiership. Well, it’s time to cash in. Already known as the best big match player in the game for his performances for Queensland. Now Munster needs to go out and show he can own the big end of season games as well.
HARRY GRANT
Salary: $570,000
Key stat: Averaging most touches this season. Also has six tries, eight assists and six forced dropouts.
Crawley says: Combines dummy half brilliance with electric speed and non-stop effort. It’s unbelievable that the Storm have gone from having the greatest hooker to ever play the game in Cameron Smith, to the emergence of the latest greatest No.9. If Melbourne makes a run to this year’s grand final this bloke will be in the thick of all the action.
Key men: Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Christian Welch
COWBOYS
MONEY MEN
SCOTT DRINKWATER
Salary: $600,000
Key stat: Has 21 try assists already this season - just one short of his career best in 2021. Averaging 125m.
Crawley says: When Drinkwater is on the Cowboys are just about unstoppable. And that is exactly how it has been over the past five weeks with the freakishly gifted fullback carving up the comp with a run of form that has many believing North Queensland could emerge the giant killers come September.
TOM DEARDEN
Salary: $450,000
Key stat: In stunning form during the Cowboys’ five-game winning streak with three tries, nine assists and seven contributions.
Crawley says: As competitive as any player with the talent and courage to go with it. The way Dearden stepped up to fill the void left by Cameron Munster in last year’s Origin decider showed exactly why he is capable of doing it in the big end of season NRL games.
Key men: Jason Taumalolo, Scott Drinkwater, Chad Townsend, Tom Dearden, Reuben Cotter
EELS
MONEY MEN
MITCHELL MOSES
Salary: $1.05m
Key stat: Taking on the line more than any stage of his career, averaging five runs and has 10 line breaks for just the third season.
Crawley says: For years Moses was known as a flat-track bully. But after taking Parramatta to a grand final last year, can he be the No.7 who finally puts the ghost of the Eels’ greatest ever halfback Peter Sterling to bed, with the club’s first premiership since 1986?
CLINT GUTHERSON
Salary: $950,000
Key stat: Has scored a career best 16 tries already in 2023. Also has six try saves, equal most.
Crawley says: Arguably the NRL’s fittest man with an ability to back up effort-on-effort while creating and scoring tries. And you just have to go back to the Eels’ recent capitulation against the Warriors, while Gutho was in NSW camp, to understand what the skipper means to the team’s defence when barking instructions from fullback.
Key men: Mitchell Moses, Clint Gutherson, Junior Paulo, Dylan Brown, Brendan Hands
PANTHERS
MONEY MEN
NATHAN CLEARY
Salary: $1.3m
Key Stat: Still third in line engagements (208), despite playing five less than Jackson Hastings (276) and six less than Shaun Johnson (254)
Crawley says: The Panthers don’t have a more important player than the 25-year-old who has already led them to back-to-back premierships. Cleary’s return to take on the Bulldogs on Sunday has come at exactly the right time to prepare for their crack at the first premiership three-peat since the Jack Gibson-coached Eels of the early 1980s.
DYLAN EDWARDS
Salary: $500,000
Key Stat: Ran more metres this season than any other player (180m average) and on track to crack double figure tries (nine so far) for the first time.
Crawley says: Continues to evolve his game to the point where there was legitimate debate that Edwards deserved a shot at the NSW No.1 jumper this year ahead of Blues skipper James Tedesco. Factor in that Edwards is on about half the salary of the established other top-shelf fullbacks and that’s what you call bang for your buck.
Key men: Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Dylan Edwards, James Fish-Harris, Isaah Yeo
RABBITOHS
MONEY MEN
LATRELL MITCHELL
Salary: $950,000
Key Stat: Between rounds 1-12 (pre-injury), Mitchell was top five in points (119), tackle busts (63) and line break assists (15)
Crawley says: In Mitchell‘s return from injury, the game’s biggest star goes head-to-head with the young rock star Walsh in what’s shaping up to be one of the club games of the season. As painful as it was for NSW fans not having Mitchell playing Origin this year, it could ultimately work to the Rabbitohs’ advantage having him fresh, physically and mentally, in the countdown to the finals.
CODY WALKER
Salary: $750,000
Key Stat: This is his fifth straight season cracking the 20 try-assist mark.
Crawley says: The two knocks on Walker have always related to questions that hung over him about owning the big moments in big games, and his ability to control his temper. But he has noticeably toned down his aggression this year, while that man-of-the-match performance in the Origin III will have him brimming with confidence at the perfect time for Souths.
Key men: Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Cameron Murray, Damien Cook, Lachlan Ilias
WARRIORS
MONEY MEN
SHAUN JOHNSON
Salary: $600,000
Key Stat: Leads comp with 45 total try involvements, made up of six tries, 21 assists and 18 contributions. Also forced more drop outs than any player (17).
Crawley says: At the start of the season no one imagined the Warriors would be heading for a top-four finish. Ironically, it’s come on the back of the calming influence of the same player who exploded onto the scene as a wildcard rookie back in 2011, when the Warriors last made the grand final.
ADDIN FONUA-BLAKE
Salary: $1.05m
Key Stat: Leads all players in post contact metres (1107), has the most run metres of any forward this season (2657)
Crawley says: There’s an old saying that forwards win games, the backs decide by how much. And you just need to look where the Warriors now sit on the ladder to understand why this 123kg wrecking ball his rightfully in the conversation for the game’s most influential big man.
Key men: Shaun Johnson, Addin Fonua-Blake, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Tohu Harris, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
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Originally published as Crawley Files: The two key players at every NRL premiership contender
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