VB Hard Earned Index, NRL Team of the Week, NRL 2023

Author: NRL.com
Timestamp: Mon 13 Mar 2023, 05:32 PM

A monster effort from the wing in the Bulldogs' dominant victory over the Storm saw Jacob Kiraz top the VB Hard Earned Index for Round 2.

The 21-year-old racked up an Index score of 103, led by a whopping 13 tackle busts, which was five more than the next best player, and 24 total runs of the ball, 14 of which ended in gains of eight metres or more.

The two-try showing finished with Kiraz earning 25 Index points more than the second-best performance from a member of the back five, which was achieved in Round 2 by Panthers flyer Sunia Turuva, who joins Kiraz in the Team of the Week.

Kiraz was the only backline player to feature in the Index top 10 for last week, with Sharks back-rower Briton Nikora the only other non-middle to make the top group.

Kiraz crashes through for two

Making the team for the second week in a row is Warriors skipper Tohu Harris, whose 94 was the second-best score of the round, along with Broncos prop Payne Haas (88) and Eels lock J'maine Hopgood (86).

Harris made a round-high 53 tackles in an 80-minute showing.

Despite going down to the Sharks 30-26 on Friday night, four Parramatta players made the Team of the Week, with Dylan Brown and Mitchell Moses nabbing spots in the halves.

Only Warriors half Shaun Johnson had more than Brown's 16 line engagements on his way to an Index score of 71, while in addition to scoring a double Moses hit a score of 50, spurred on by 13 runs for eight metres or more.

Eels big man Reagan Campbell-Gillard joined Isaah Yeo, Tom Gilbert and Dale Finucane as the other middles in the Team of the Week.

Alex Twal and Mark Nicholls led the way for players who came off the interchange in Round 2, which for Twal included running a round-high 13 decoys and making 45 tackles.

After starring off the pine last week, Nicholls was immense again for Wayne Bennett's Dolphins, churning out 13 runs for eight metres or more.