Buzz Rothfield’s top 50 NRL players of the 2021 season

For the first time in almost two decades Cam Smith won’t feature in the top 50. But which other big-name stars missed the cut on Buzz’s list?

Phil Rothfield has rank his top 50 NRL players for season 2021.

The NRL’s salary cap is not working — and here is the proof.

You select the top 50 players across the competition and four clubs totally dominate the list with 33 inclusions – Melbourne Storm, the Roosters, the Rabbitohs and the Panthers.

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The Storm top the list with 10 players, even allowing for the loss of skipper Cameron Smith.

They have three in the top 10 — Cameron Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Harry Grant.

All clubs might spend the same amount of money but the class difference is huge.

At the opposite end of the ladder are seven clubs with only four Top 50 players between them.

The Cronulla Sharks, Canterbury Bulldogs and St George Illawarra Dragons have zero.

You could argue about Wade Graham and Shaun Johnson at the Sharks or Zac Lomax at the Dragons.

The top 50 players this year is a projection list. We’re judging on past form but also future growth.

BELOW: BUZZ’S TOP 50 NRL PLAYERS OF THE 2021 SEASON

That’s why the likes of Grant, Newcastle’s barnstorming Bradman Best and boom Parramatta Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown have made the list.

They are very good players who we expect to become great players if not this year then in the near future.

There is one thing you can’t argue with in this year’s list – the top three players in the competition.

It’s really a matter of what order you put Cameron Munster, James Tedesco and Nathan Cleary in.

We have gone with Cleary as the number one player in the game.

Despite missing two games, I thought he should have been named Dally M champion last year.

He will improve even further this year with the experience from last year’s grand final.

Originally published as Buzz Rothfield’s top 50 NRL players of the 2021 season