Taupau, Thompson smash through plenty of hard work
While plenty of little men lit up Magic Round, some big bruisers dominated the VB Hard Earned index.
Sea Eagles prop Martin Taupau made a huge impact off the bench in a big win over the Broncos as he racked up an index score of 93.
The powerful 31-year-old, who set up a try, obliterated the baseline of hard work for his position with the average score for all interchange players being 36.2. The average for starting front-rowers is 57.4.
Taupau had 20 runs - 16 resulting in a gain of eight or more metres - and made sixteen tackles while busting six in 57 minutes.
Canterbury bookend Luke Thompson earned the highest score of the weekend at Suncorp Stadium, however, with his 95 coming in a losing cause against the Raiders.
Like Taupau, the British Bulldog had 20 carries - 12 being for eight or more metres - as well as churning out 38 tackles and two offloads.
Elsewhere, Roosters pair Angus Crichton and James Tedesco were stellar. Crichton scored a double against the Cowboys - with Tedesco gifting him one try - but didn't shirk the tough stuff to score 93.
Tedesco (80) earned high praise from coach Trent Robinson, who said the gun fullback "carried us on his shoulders". He gave North Queensland's shoulders a serious workout, too, busting 11 tackles.
Panthers star Nathan Cleary put on a clinic to record a hat-trick in his team's win against the Titans to finish Magic Round.
But he did far more than cross the stripe, with the halfback engaging the line 23 times and recording 11 runs (eight for eight or more metres), busting nine tackles and completing 19 in defence.
His score of 76 was streets ahead of a halfback's average of 33.
On the overall leaderboard, Penrith middle James Fisher-Harris remains on top followed by Eels back-rower Isaiah Papali'i.
Storm prop Christian Welch is in third place with Panthers pair Isaah Yeo and Brian To'o in pursuit.
