Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield’s top 50 NRL players: Slew of million-dollar men fail to pay dividends in 2025

Generational change is happening at the NRL, with a wave of fresh new faces sweeping some of rugby league’s highest-paid stars out of Phil Rothfield’s list of the 50 best players in the game.

The NRL heads to Magic Round this weekend with a new-age top 50 player list, minus a number of the game’s underperforming million-dollar superstars.

Glamour fullbacks Reece Walsh, Kalyn Ponga and Latrell Mitchell, Kangaroos captain Isaah Yeo, Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans, Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes and $14 million man Dylan Brown have all been left off the top 50.

These players have been almost automatic selections in the top 10-20 players in past end of season lists.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE BUZZ’S TOP 50 FORM NRL PLAYERS

Instead, a new wave of stars including Dolphins halfback Isaiya Katoa, the Rabbitohs’ Jye Gray, Wests Tigers prop Terrell May, Warriors halfback Luke Metcalf and the Wests Tigers’ teenage star Lachlan Galvin have been included on form in the opening eight rounds of the competition.

It’s a top 50 based solely on form this year, not reputations or previous Origin or Test appearances.

Rabbitohs fullback Jye Gray. Picture: Brett Hemmings/Getty Images

The surge up the premiership ladder of the Warriors, the Canberra Raiders, the Bulldogs and the Cowboys has unearthed so many new faces – many of whom don’t even make the annual NRL Rich 100 list.

And probably the easiest selection was in the number one position with Brisbane Broncos prop Payne Haas, fitter, stronger, more dynamic and consistent than in any of his previous seven seasons in the NRL.

Canterbury Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton is ranked at two on the back of his leadership and contribution on the Dogs’ right side.

Haas’ Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds has been the form halfback in the competition this year and is number three on the list.

He might be off contract at the end of the season but, at 34, he is playing arguably the best football of his career.

Hudson Young has rocketed up the list. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Katoa, the 21-year-old Dolphins halfback, is the next highest rated halfback at No.6 on the list. Each week he plays with the maturity and nous of a far more seasoned campaigner.

While Melbourne Storm have contributed the most players with six, the Parramatta Eels are the only club without a player on the list.

We couldn’t include Mitchell Moses, although his one game against Wests Tigers was up there with the best individual performances of the season.

Originally published as Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield’s top 50 NRL players: Slew of million-dollar men fail to pay dividends in 2025