Reuben Garrick took the award as the NRL's top point-scorer in 2022, scoring a staggering 334 points across the course of the season.
To put that into perspective, Adam Reynolds at the South Sydney Rabbitohs was the highest point-scorer in 2020 with 220, and Latrell Mitchell took out the award the season before with 273. 2020 had less rounds, but even so, Garrick outscored the 2019 winner in Mitchell by almost 60 points
While the Manly Sea Eagles may be challenged to keep themselves in the top four this season as other sides, including the Cronulla Sharks and Gold Coast Titans, could push for higher honours on the ladder, while other teams may also work out how to defend Tom Trbojevic, potentially limiting the scoring potential of Des Hasler.
That hasn't stopped punters labelling Garrick as the favourite to run out as top point-scorer again on the back of his goal-kicking and try-scoring exploits, but with a bonus offer, you can still find plenty of value on other candidates.
Here is a look at the contenders.
Ryan Papenhuyzen (Melbourne Storm)
Papenhuyzen comes into the season as the number one goal-kicker at the Storm, a club who will already score plenty of points thanks to their outstanding offence, driven by the coaching of Craig Bellamy.
The star fullback also certainly knows how to find the tryline, with the mulleted-star sitting out most of 2021, but still putting on damaging performances when he made it onto the park for the men in purple.
Nathan Cleary (Penrith Panthers)
Cleary is potentially the obvious candidate to challenge Garrick, although he won't score as many tries.
If the Sea Eagles fall away though, then so will Garrick's ability to wrack up points with both tries and goals. Cleary's Panthers are showing zero signs of slowing down from the top of the table, and despite missing a sizeable chunk of the 2021 season, Cleary still kicked 94 goals.
If he can stay fit, then he could well edge that tally past what Garrick kicked last year, putting himself well in contention for this award.
Zac Lomax (St George Illawarra Dragons)
This might be a left-field candidate, but Zac Lomax and the Dragons have attacking weapons all over the park.
A goal-kicker too, Lomax could find himself getting a lot of practice off the kicking tee in high-scoring games this year, and not only that, but playing out wide and with a strong ball-running game, he is no stranger to finding the tryline either.
If you're looking for value, then Lomax could be the way to go, provided that, like Cleary, he can stay fit.
