The NRL's regular season is in the books and that means it's time to reveal who has taken out Zero Tackle's NRL MVP for 2022 after votes for the final round were tallied.
While Tom Trbojevic, Cody Walker and Nathan Cleary were last year's top three, Tbojevic and Cleary are nowhere to be seen in this year's leaderboard.
As a reminder, each week this season, our panel of Zero Tackle founder Matt Clements, reporters Jack Blyth and Dan Nichols, and myself, have picked the best five players on ground each game.
Points were then awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 scoring system to determine the overall MVP for the 2022 season.
You can refresh the page below each hour throughout Monday afternoon as we countdown to the 2022 NRL MVP.
You can view the full season leaderboard here.
10th place
Jahrome Hughes (Melbourne Storm) - 148 votes
The Melbourne Storm halfback managed to hang onto a place in the top ten, despite not polling a single vote in the final round during a loss to the Parramatta Eels.
Hughes had a brilliant start to the season, but ultimately had too many points taken away from him by Cameron Munster, and struggled during Melbourne's slow form in the second half of the season.
Scoring a perfect 20 votes two weeks in a row during Round 15 and 15 is ultimately what has seen him take a top ten spot, with Isaiah Papali'i the first to miss out four votes behind after also registering nothing in the final round of the season.
Halfback
Try Assists
Tries
Kick Metres
9th place
Clint Gutherson (Parramatta Eels) - 149 votes
Gutherson has had a monumental finish to the season, allowing him to sneak into the final top ten, despite being well outside of it just a couple of weeks ago.
Following up the 19 votes he scored in Round 24, Gutherson was the unanimous player of the match in Round 25 against the Melbourne Storm, polling a perfect 20 votes.
Inconsistency seemed to litter his season, however, two perfect rounds, combined with a number of others which saw him score north of 15 votes means he wins the race for a place on the final leaderboard.
Fullback
Tries
Try Assists
Tackle Breaks
8th place
Joseph Manu (Sydney Roosters) - 161 votes
Joseph Manu's season has seen him used, once again, in different positions, but when he was on, he was simply unstoppable.
Playing most of the year in the centres again, Manu was a consistent points accumulator for the Roosters, and finished the season with a flurry, scoring 20 votes in Round 18 and Round 24.
He failed to register a vote in the final round and is now nursing an injury, but his influence on the Roosters is simply undeniable.
Amazingly, he hadn't registered a point in the first three rounds, however, quickly made amends with 20 and 18 the following two weeks.
Centre
Try Assists
LB Assists
Tries
7th place
Scott Drinkwater (North Queensland Cowboys) - 173 votes
What a staggering season it has been for Scott Drinkwater.
At the start of the campaign, he wasn't even in the Cowboys' best 17. Then Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow got injured.
Drinkwater came into the side for Round 6 and scored 17 out of 20, before registering maximum points in Round 7 and 8. He also had maximum votes in Round 13 and Round 16, as well as Round 20, quickly moving himself towards the pointy end of the leaderboard.
A consistent run of points, combined another 18 votes in the final round has taken him all the way to seventh on the leaderboard.
If only he had those first four weeks...
Fullback
Tries
Try Assists
Tackle Breaks
6th place
Dylan Edwards (Penrith Panthers) - 183 votes
Edwards had a phenomenal start to the season and for a while looked like he was among the big favourites to take out this year's MVP award.
He would score 71 votes in the opening five weeks of the season to take the lead, but then had some struggles which saw him quickly caught up by those sitting directly behind him.
A regular flow of votes through the second half of the season, including 14, 17, 18 and 15 in Rounds 18, 19, 21 and 23 respectively ultimately have seen him just fall short of the top five though.
Fullback
Tries
Try Assists
Tackle Breaks
5th place
Nicho Hynes (Cronulla Sharks) - 194 votes
Hynes moved to the Sharks for the 2022 season with plenty of expectations, and hasn't let anyone down.
Guiding the Sharks to second place on the NRL ladder, he has managed to finish inside the top five of our MVP race.
Two perfect scores in the opening three weeks had him near the top of the leaderboard from the outset, and while he dropped away, more perfect games in Round 9, 11, 16, 21 and 23 have seen him challenge, but ultimately fall short of the top spot.
4th place
Ben Hunt (St George Illawarra Dragons) - 207 votes
Hunt is the only player from a bottom-eight side to make the top ten, and is thought to be a strong chance of claiming the Dally M Medal when it's presented by the NRL in the lead up to the grand final.
An incredible season for Hunt despite the plight of his team has seen him be the star in red and white more often than not.
Four perfect games from the Dragons' 12 wins have been joined by a regular accumulation of points both on the winning and losing side.
The next highest-placed player from outside the top eight is Daly Cherry-Evans, who is 71 votes behind him.
Halfback
Try Assists
Tries
Kick Metres
3rd place
Joseph Tapine (Canberra Raiders) - 215 votes
The fact Tapine has finished third on the MVP leaderboard despite claiming just seven votes in the opening nine rounds of the season speaks volumes about his level of impact he had from Round 10 onwards.
Finishing on 215 votes, it means he has scored 208 in his last 14 games of the season, which includes only three perfect games.
The level of consistency from Tapine was mind boggling, with only three games seeing him fail to score, and all others north of ten votes.
Lock
Offloads
Tries
Try Assists
2nd place
Cameron Munster (Melbourne Storm) - 229 votes
Munster has had a phenomenal season, but ultimately comes up just short of taking out the top honour in the race to be crowned Zero Tackle's MVP for 2022.
Munster had six perfect games, including three in a row between Round 20 and 22 which saw him surge up the leaderboard and take over the lead during the closing weeks.
The Storm, Queensland and Australian star held the lead with one week to go, but his 12 votes in a loss to the Parramatta Eels was ultimately overthrown.
Five-eighth
Try Assists
Tries
Kick Metres
1st place
James Tedesco (Sydney Roosters) - 231 votes
The winner of the 2022 Zero Tackle MVP is James Tedesco.
A spectacular season from the Roosters and New South Wales Blues captain has seen him pinch the award in the final week with 15 votes recorded during the Roosters' win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday night.
Despite a slow start to the season, five perfect games and regular votes has seen him hold off Munster for the honour.
Fullback
Tries
Try Assists
Tackle Breaks
It’s interesting that the Roosters and Storm both manage to have two players in the top ten. As you said, each player is likely to cannibalize the score of his team mate, so both scoring well implies they were both really effective.
I doubt that the same thing happened at Manly where Turbo played only seven matches and scored just two tries. He didn’t steal many points from DCE, yet DCE racked up only 135 for the season.
Contrast his score with Ben Hunt’s 207. Manly and the Dragons are very similar: tenth and eleventh on the table with almost identical for&against. That tells me that, at $1.2M per season, DCE is probably _the_ most overpaid half-back going around. He should be making a contribution similar to that of Hunt, and scoring as well as Hunt, but the figures show Hunt is 50% more effective.