Haas edges Fisher-Harris in battle of the giants

Two VB Hard Earned colossuses went head-to-head last Saturday night with Payne Haas edging out James Fisher-Harris in a bruising front-row battle.

Brisbane's Haas recorded a monstrous VB Hard Earned index score of 113 - the highest of round 19 - while Penrith's Fisher-Harris finished fourth with 94 in his team's 18-12 win at Suncorp Stadium.

With his performance, Fisher-Harris returned to the peak of the overall VB leaderboard, overtaking Parramatta's Isaiah Papali'i, but the Kiwi star has now left the Queensland bubble for family reasons.

Fisher-Harris is set to miss a few matches with Papali'i, Penrith teammate Brian To'o, Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Cronulla's Toby Rudolf in hot pursuit of the VB Hard Earned top spot.

Haas doesn't currently feature in the top eight for the season - a three-match suspension to start the year and sitting out club matches during the Origin period have hurt his aggregate - but he'll rocket up the rankings with more efforts like he produced against the Panthers.

The powerhouse took 19 runs, made eight or more metres 12 times, busted an incredible 14 tackles and made 36 of his own.

Meanwhile, Fisher-Harris had 17 carries - also making eight or more metres 12 times - while racking up 38 tackles and busting two.

Elsewhere, Roosters centre Joey Manu was brilliant in a victory over the Knights, recording an index score of 80 - more than double the average for his position in a baseline-boosting effort.

Raiders back-rower Joseph Tapine (96) and Sharks edge forward Briton Nikora (95) were others who posted big numbers last round.