Nathan Cleary has surged into the outright lead of Zero Tackle's NRL finals MVP race after a 17-vote performance against the Brisbane Broncos.
The star New South Wales and Australian Kangaroos halfback was locked with Isaah Yeo in a game where our judging panel were split on who was man of the match.
In fact, Isaah Yeo, Nathan Cleary and Brian To'o were all voted at the top of the pile by at least one of our judges, with the trio all gaining healthy tallies.
Cleary was just a single vote off the lead after Week 2 following a 20-vote haul in the Panthers' qualifying final demolition of the New Zealand Warriors.
James Tedesco, who had the lead last week, had no further chance to increase his position, with the top five now featuring two Panthers and three Broncos.
Isaah Yeo sits five votes behind Cleary, while it's Reece Walsh, Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan, who were all tremendous for Brisbane on Saturday evening in a big win over the New Zealand Warriors who are behind the Penrith duo.
Walsh recorded a full 20 votes in the game to sit outright third, seven votes behind Cleary, while Haas and Carrigan are another one and five votes back respectively.
The only other player in the mix to take out the overall win is Adam Reynolds, who is exactly 20 votes behind Cleary and would need a perfect game to draw level.
Here are all the preliminary final votes and the leaderboard as it stands.
Penrith Panthers vs Melbourne Storm
| Matt Clements | Scott Pryde | Dan Nichols | Jack Blyth | |
| 5 | Isaah Yeo | Isaah Yeo | Nathan Cleary | Brian To'o |
| 4 | Nathan Cleary | Nathan Cleary | Isaah Yeo | Nathan Cleary |
| 3 | Brian To'o | Scott Sorensen | James Fisher-Harris | Isaah Yeo |
| 2 | James Fisher-Harris | Brian To'o | Brian To'o | James Fisher-Harris |
| 1 | Scott Sorensen | Liam Martin | Scott Sorensen | Scott Sorensen |
Brisbane Broncos vs New Zealand Warriors
| Matt Clements | Scott Pryde | Dan Nichols | Jack Blyth | |
| 5 | Reece Walsh | Reece Walsh | Reece Walsh | Reece Walsh |
| 4 | Payne Haas | Patrick Carrigan | Payne Haas | Payne Haas |
| 3 | Herbie Farnworth | Payne Haas | Patrick Carrigan | Patrick Carrigan |
| 2 | Dallin Watene-Zelezniak | Herbie Farnworth | Billy Walters | Billy Walters |
| 1 | Billy Walters | Ezra Mam | Ezra Mam | Ezra Mam |
Top Ten
| PLAYER | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nathan Cleary |
17 | 37 |
| 2 | Isaah Yeo |
17 | 32 |
| 3 | Reece Walsh |
20 | 30 |
| 4 | Payne Haas |
15 | 29 |
| 5 | Patrick Carrigan |
10 | 25 |
| 6 | James Tedesco |
0 | 21 |
| 7 | Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad |
0 | 20 |
| 8 | Kalyn Ponga |
0 | 19 |
| 8 | Brian To'o |
12 | 19 |
| 10 | Siua Wong |
0 | 18 |
“Nathan Cleary has surged into the outright lead of Zero Tackle’s NRL finals MVP race after a 17-vote performance against the Brisbane Broncos.”
Unless this is the draft on next week’s article :=))…. then change “Brisbane Broncos” to “Melbourne Storm”.
(I know, it’s been a l-o-o-o-ng season)