NRL 2022, VB Hard Earned Index, Round 25 standout players, Isaiah Papali'i tops the charts for season

Author: NRL.com
Timestamp: Tue 6 Sep 2022, 08:28 AM

Departing Parramatta forward Isaiah Papali'i has topped the VB Hard Earned Index leaderboard for season 2022 after finishing the regular season 64 points clear of Raiders prop Joseph Tapine.

Papali'i, who will join Wests Tigers in 2023, scored well below his season average in the final game of the regular season, but his 63 points were still enough to see him clinch top spot on the leaderboard with Tapine (1697 points) and Sharks forward Cameron McInnes (1628 points) coming in third after his first year with the club.

Tonga international Joe Ofahengaue produced arguably the best year of his career and came in fourth on the overall leaderboard with his 1604 points narrowly pushing Panthers lock Isaah Yeo (1575 points) back to fifth after the co-captain was rested by coach Ivan Cleary in the final game of the regular season.

Playing in his first game back from a four-game suspension, Broncos forward Patrick Carrigan topped the charts in Round 25 with his 94 points the most of any player in the week — courtesy of 34 tackles and 21 total runs of the ball.

Bulldogs prop Max King finished second to help his side home in a thrilling win against the Sea Eagles (90 points) with McInnes (86 points) coming in equal third alongside Roosters big man Siosiua Taukeiaho (86 points).

The only non-forward to feature in the top 10, Titans fullback Jayden Campbell had 11 tackle breaks in his side's comeback win over the Warriors to help him to a round score of 84 points, with only teammate Greg Marzhew breaking more tackles (12) across all players in the round.

Harry Grant (49 tackles) topped the tackle count, Zac Lomax (26 runs) made the most carries while no player had more offloads than Braidon Burns (4).