NRL 2023, Team of the Week, VB Hard Earned Index, NRL Round 5, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Lindsay Collins

Author: NRL.com
Timestamp: Mon 3 Apr 2023, 04:01 PM

Powerhouse performances from Roosters props Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Lindsay Collins saw the pair not only lead the Tricolours to an important win over the Eels but also secure their place in the Round 5 VB Hard Earned Index Team of the Week.

Starting their first game of the season together, Waerea-Hargreaves and Collins were immense in setting the platform for the Roosters to power their way to a much-needed win, with the Kiwi prop topping all players with 94 points for the round.

Waerea-Hargreaves made 21 carries against the Eels – 14 of which went for more than eight metres – as well as 10 decoy runs and 22 tackles, while Collins chalked up 25 tackles without missing and three offloads to finish on 87 points.

Only Jazz Tevaga, Cameron Murray and Blake Lawrie finished the round with more points than Collins, with the talented trio impressing in different categories.

Tevaga made 41 tackles and had three tackle breaks in the Warriors' come-from-behind win over Cronulla, Murray had an impressive 13 line engagements and four tackle breaks against the Storm, while Lawrie had 18 carries and 29 tackles as the Dragons got their campaign back on track with an important win over the Dolphins.

Knights trio Dane Gagai, Greg Marzhew and Lachlan Miller were impressive in the their side's thrilling draw against the Sea Eagles – accounting for 29 tackle breaks between the three of them – but it was Manly duo Tom and Jake Trbojevic who finished inside the top 10 players for the round with their strong performances.

Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad narrowly missed selection in this week's team after producing 17 runs of eight-plus metres, while wingers Brian To'o and Marzhew each accounted for 16 runs of eight-plus metres.

Melbourne lock Josh King topped all players in the top 10 with 49 tackles.