Crichton, Asofa-Solomona leading the way for heavyweights

The plaudits keep coming for Origin debutant Angus Crichton and Kiwi international Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who on top of their representative honours are building key seasons for their club based on VB Hard Earned Award data.

Crichton's Rabbitohs and Asofa-Solomona's Storm will go head-to-head on Friday night at ANZ Stadium in a match that will determine the outright leader of the 2018 Telstra Premiership ladder.

South Sydney lead the competition in tries (78), line breaks (99), line-break assists (70), try assists (58) and running metres (29,925), while Melbourne have been the silent assassins in working their way to the top, ranking fourth for points (459), equal fourth in tries scored and second in goals.

Crichton leads the South Sydney in VB Hard Earned points with 1293, while Asofa-Solomona takes the front spot for the Storm on 930 points.

Crichton has been devastating on the right edge for the Bunnies with four line breaks and four line-break assists, along with 26 offloads and 590 tackles with a 90.1% tackle efficiency.

Asofa-Solomona has proved his dominance through the middle with 54 tackle breaks, 17 offloads and 398 tackles at a tackle efficiency of 90.8%.

On the VB Hard-Earned season leaderboard, Manly lock Jake Trbojevic remains at the top on 1563 points ahead of Titans captain Ryan James on 1480, with Eels prop Daniel Alvaro trailing him on 1462 and Newcastle Knight second rower Aidan Guerra fourth on 1454 points.

Each week the VB Hard-Earned Award Index is calculated by doubling the amount of runs a player makes, plus adding in the amount of tackles, support plays and decoys, along with offloads, tackles breaks and charge downs.

A point can be lost for each missed tackle, four points for each error or penalty conceded and eight points are deducted for a stint in the sin bin.