NRL’s top 50 under-23 players position-by-position breakdown: NRL’s hooker drought exposed
Elite young playmakers are a scarce commodity but our NRL Top-50 players 23 and under list has exposed another key spine position in short supply.
Elite young playmakers are a scarce commodity but this masthead’s NRL’s Top-50 players 23 and under list has exposed another key spine position in short supply – hooker.
Just seven dummy halves were eligible for the list, and only one in rising Wests Tigers rake Tallyn Da Silva made it into the top-50.
Da Silva is the brightest out of the club’s Western Suburbs Magpies nursery, where he helped the Harold Matthews Cup side to grand final victory last season.
The 18-year old’s tenacity, speed and running game has elevated him above Jake Simpkin, 21, as the long term replacement to Api Koroisau, who has just re-signed until the end of 2026.
Simpkin, who did not make the list, was lured to Concord from the Broncos with a reputation as Queensland’s best young hooker back in 2019.
He is now one of a number of players, including Shawn Blore, that the Tigers are looking to offload before the end of their contracts in 2024.
Brisbane’s Corey Paix, 23, has been kept out of the No.9 jumper by Billy Walters, and now Tyson Smoothy is favoured on the bench. Neither has had enough impact in Brisbane’s surge to the top of the ladder to warrant a spot in the top-50.
Parramatta’s Brendan Hands, 23, has had a solid start to his NRL career from the bench before stepping into the starting hooker role for veteran Josh Hodgson, who is facing a medical retirement due to a neck injury.
Despite showing promise, coach Brad Arthur still preferred experience in the role and Joey Lussick was a mid-season signing from St Helens.
While young hooking talent might be light on in the NRL, one rising rake has the potential to shake-up the dummy half stocks, and the top 50 list.
Brisbane’s Blake Mozer is on the cusp of an NRL debut and some pundits have even dared to compare the 19-year-old to legendary Melbourne hooker Cameron Smith.
Mozer’s craftiness from the ruck and ability to control the attack through the middle has the teen sensation at a class above his dummy half peers.
OUTSIDE BACKS
The NRL is oozing with young tackle breaking centres and speedster wingers. So unsurprisingly, the Top 50 is dominated by outside backs with a total of 21 wingers and centres on the list.
Queensland flyers Selwyn Cobbo and Xavier Coates headline the 10 wingers to earn a spot on the list. Cobbo is all x-factor but missed out on the top 10 for his tendency to go missing in games.
More consistency from Cobbo would see him leapfrog our No.10 pick centre Izack Tago.
The winger’s field also features rookie of the year contenders in try scoring machine Alofiana Khan-Pereira and Penrith’s hard running Sunia Turuva.
The 11 centres who made the cut are a mix of pure athleticism, power and skill.
Two-time premiership winner Stephen Crichton leads the pack and the Penrith centre’s game has gone to another level since a stand out Origin series for the Blues.
It’s a similar story for Bradman Best, who’s full potential and power was on display in his Blues debut and helped earn him a spot in the Top 50.
Unlike the other centres on the list, Matt Timoko has only just arrived as a household name with a breakout season for the Raiders.
Newcastle’s Dominic Young has defied a history of English backs to flame out in the NRL to rise to the top of the try scorers list, and No.23 on the list.
SIXES AND SEVENS
There are three five-eighths in the top 10 but only two halfbacks, Lachlan Ilias and Isaiya Katoa, in the top 30.
The NRL’s young halfbacks have arguably had a challenging season but all four on the list – Sam Walker, Jayden Sullivan, Katoa and Ilias – have enormous upside and time on their side.
Katoa, the highest ranking halfback at No.26, has handled his rookie season with composure and control, and has the skill to reign above his No. 7 cohort for years to come.
Parramatta five-eighth Dylan Brown hasn’t played a game since round 13 but was in fine form before his suspension – and took his game to another level in the Eels’ charge to the grand final in 2022. All which helped him to the No.3 spot ahead of the likes of North Queensland’s Tom Dearden and Canterbury’s Matt Burton.
Dearden has stepped out of halfback Chad Townsend’s shadow this year to emerge as not only the most underrated five-eighth aged 23 and younger, but in the NRL.
FULLBACK
Only experience separated Reece Walsh from Brisbane teammate Payne Haas and the No.1 spot on the list.
Walsh has been a revelation for the Broncos, where he has taken the side’s attack to another level helping to turn the side in a title favourite. He’s also the buy of the year.
The next best fullback is Dolphin Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, while Tyrell Sloan and Jahream Bula have the raw talent to shoot further up the list. Sloan is a work in progress defensively.
FORWARDS
Considering props take time to peak, the fact five of the six players on the list are Origin representatives is an impressive feat.
Only Penrith’s Spencer Leniu is yet to represent his state but only narrowly missed out on NSW selection this year and is a Blue-in-waiting.
Payne Haas’ massive motor and consistency for a prop so young helped earn him the crown as the best player 23 and under in the NRL. Critics of Haas claim the forward needs to add variety to his game but the lack of an offload, does not diminish the huge role he has played in Brisbane’s resurgence to the top of the ladder.
In the second row, North Queensland’s Jeremiah Nanai narrowly surpassed Titans powerhouse David Fifita in the top 10 on the back of his tenacity and willingness to go after a game.
HOOKERS 23 AND UNDER
Tyson Smoothy
Brendan Hands
Cory Paix
Freddy Lussick
Adrian Trevilyan
Jake Simpkin
Tallyn Da Silva
Gordon Chan Kum Tong
YET TO DEBUT
Blake Mozer
TOP 50 – POSITION BREAKDOWN
CENTRE - TOTAL 11
Stephen Crichton
Izack Tago
Herbie Farnworth
Bradman Best
Matt Timoko
Will Penisini
Isaiah Tass
Zac Lomax
Jake Averillo
Tolutau Koula
Paul Alamoti
WING - TOTAL 10
Selwyn Cobbo
Xavier Coates
Dominic Young
Ronaldo Mulitalo
Alofiana Khan-Pereira
Sunia Turuva
Junior Tupou
Jacob Kiraz
Jason Saab
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii
FIVE-EIGHTH - TOTAL 7
Dylan Brown
Tom Dearden
Matt Burton
Ezra Mam
Isaiya Katoa
Josh Schuster
Karl Oloapu
PROP - TOTAL 6
Payne Haas
Tino Fa'asuamaleaui
Spencer Leniu
Thomas Flegler
Moeaki Fotuaika
Stefano Utoikamanu
SECOND ROW - TOTAL 5
Jeremiah Nanai
David Fifita
Jordan Riki
Eliesa Katoa
Jacob Preston
FULLBACK - TOTAL 4
Reece Walsh
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow
Jahream Bula
Tyrell Sloan
HALFBACK - TOTAL 4
Lachlan Ilias
Sam Walker
Tanah Boyd
Jayden Sullivan
LOCK - TOTAL 1
Thomas Gilbert
UTILITY - TOTAL 1
Jayden Campbell
HOOKER - TOTAL 1
Tallyn Da Silva
Green shoots of Bulldogs’ forced young policy
Canterbury has used more under-23 players than any other side in the NRL so far this season – 18.
The Bulldogs are also the third-youngest side in the NRL with an average age of 24.9.
For development clubs like Brisbane and Penrith, that youth has underpinned their push to the top.
At Belmore, it has highlighted the size of the rebuild under football boss Phil Gould and first-year head coach Cameron Ciraldo.
But while the Bulldogs are anchored near the bottom of the ladder, there are green shoots.
At 23, Matt Burton is already a premiership winner and NSW and Australian representative. The right foil in the halves will be the key to unlocking Burton’s game as an elite five-eighth.
Burton’s current halves partner and new Bulldogs signing Toby Sexton didn’t make the top 50, along with 11 other eligible players including Jackson Topine and Kurtis Morrin.
If the top 50 was ranked on impact alone, then Jacob Preston would creep up higher than his current spot at 40. Preston, in his rookie season, has been a real find and is already earmarked as a future captain after re-signing until the end of 2027.
The club is invested in teenage playmaker Karl Oloapu, while rising centre Paul Alamoti is off-contract and fellow local junior Jake Averillo, who has been one of their best this season, is Dolphins-bound in 2024.
And there lies one of Canterbury’s biggest challenge in this current roster overhaul – which youngsters to keep or who to cut.
The other is the club’s production line of talent and the time it will take to develop local juniors into NRL-calibre players.
Youth is only a competitive advantage if the club’s youngsters are elite.
The Bulldogs tapped into Brisbane’s pipeline to snatch Oloapu and could be about to do the same with our No.1 under-23 player, Payne Haas.
The highest-ranked Panthers star on the list, No.4 Stephen Crichton, is Belmore bound in 2024, where he will reunite with Burton and Viliame Kikau.
BRONCOS YOUTH MOVEMENT
Any NRL coach will tell you defence wins premierships, but in the modern game so does youth.
Take the Brisbane Broncos in 2023.
The Red Hill club have dominated the top 50 under-23 players for 2023 with seven homegrown stars on the list, led by powerhouse prop Payne Haas and livewire fullback Reece Walsh.
Their premiership revival from wooden spooners just three years ago to second favourites for the 2023 title is being built upon the club’s elite pathways system.
In an even bigger endorsement of Brisbane’s resurgence, Jock Madden is the only under-23 player on coach Kevin Walters’ roster that is not a product of the Broncos development program.
Hooker Corey Paix, boom back-rower Brendan Piakura, rising prop Xavier Willison and outside back Deine Mariner are all graduates from the club’s academy that sit just outside the top 50.
Rising rake Blake Mozer, rated the best young dummy-half in the game and earmarked as Brisbane’s long-term hooker, is yet to make his NRL debut and doesn’t qualify for the list.
It has shades of Penrith Panthers about it. A campaign built on fearlessness, energy and confidence underpinned by the riches of their pathways.
The Broncos have that same boldness about them this season and that has propelled the club into a premiership window.
The average age of Penrith’s back-to-back premiership teams was just 24.
The Broncos are the fourth-youngest NRL side, with an average age of 25, even younger than Penrith (25.9) in 2023.
TITANIC YOUTH
Incoming coach Des Hasler is confident he can take Gold Coast to its first premiership within the next three years.
While it might seem far-fetched, Hasler is walking into a booming Titans roster.
Six players, including Queensland Origin forwards Tino Fa‘asuamaleaui, David Fifita and Moeaki Fotuaika, feature among the top 50 under-23s.
But for all the representative talent at Hasler’s disposal, the engine room is brimming with up-and-coming players like Iszac Fa‘asuamaleaui, Josiah Pahulu and Kleese Haas – not experienced enough to make the list but talented enough to make a real mark in the coming years.
In the backline, winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira, at No.27, has 18 tries in 18 NRL appearances to emerge as a genuine rookie of the year contender.
Other youngsters like Aaron Schoupp and Jojo Fifita, not on the list, are astute outside backs.
Whiz kid Keano Kini, 19, is the best youngster at the club and it’s only a matter of time before the metre-eating fullback is a fixture in Hasler’s side.
TOP 50 NRL STARS UNDER 23: VOTE IN OUR RANKING INTERACTIVE
The biggest question mark for Hasler, and the club’s premiership ambitions, is what the coach does in the halves.
Five-eighth Kieran Foran is 33 and contracted until the end of next season. Despite his age, he is a favourite of Hasler’s.
At 23, Tanah Boyd’s toughness and willingness to take on the line earned him the Titans’ No.7 jersey and a spot on the top 50 list, but it will be intriguing to see whether Hasler can develop him into a premiership-calibre halfback.
Hasler has reached five grand finals and has more tools than critics may realise to make it six appearances … and maybe even three grand final wins.
TOP 50 – CLUB BREAKDOWN
BRISBANE BRONCOS – 7
1. Payne Haas
2. Reece Walsh
11. Selwyn Cobbo
15. Ezra Mam
17. Herbie Farnworth
18. Thomas Flegler
23. Jordan Riki
CANTERBURY BULLDOGS – 6
9. Matt Burton
34. Jake Averillo
38. Jacob Kiraz
40. Jacob Preston
46. Paul Alamoti
49. Karl Oloapu
GOLD COAST TITANS – 6
5. Tino Fa‘asuamaleaui
7. David Fifita
19. Moeaki Fotuaika
27. Alofiana Khan-Pereira
41. Jayden Campbell
48. Tanah Boyd
PENRITH PANTHERS – 4
4. Stephen Crichton
10. Izack Tago
12. Spencer Leniu
29. Sunia Turuva
WESTS TIGERS – 4
33. Stefano Utoikamanu
35. Jahream Bula
37. Junior Tupou
50. Tally Da Silva
DOLPHINS – 3
14. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow
16. Thomas Gilbert
26. Isaiya Katoa
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS – 3
32. Zac Lomax
45. Tyrell Sloan
47. Jayden Sullivan
MANLY SEA EAGLES – 3
39. Josh Schuster
43. Jason Saab
44. Tolutau Koula
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS – 2
6. Jeremiah Nanai
8. Tom Dearden
PARRAMATTA EELS – 2
3. Dylan Brown
28. Will Penisini
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS – 2
20. Bradman Best
21. Dominic Young
SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS – 2
30. Lachlan Ilias
31. Isaiah Tass
SYDNEY ROOSTERS – 2
36. Sam Walker
42. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii
MELBOURNE STORM – 2
13. Xavier Coates
24. Eliesa Katoa
CANBERRA RAIDERS – 1
25. Matthew Timoko
CRONULLA SHARKS – 1
22. Ronaldo Mulitalo
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