The outside backs have grown more and more important in recent years at both ends of the park.
Gone are the days where wingers in the NRL were simply there to finish plays, and long gone are the days when centres were seen as expendable.
SEE ALSO: Every NRL club's spine ranked for 2026
Instead, wingers are required to run the ball, get sets off to a good start, break tackles and be able to pass while having incredible finishing ability.
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Centres are also more important than ever, particularly in defence.
Here is every club's centres and wingers ranked.
16. Newcastle Knights
Wingers: Greg Marzhew and Dominic Young
Centres: Bradman Best and Dane Gagai
Other options: Fletcher Sharpe, James Schiller, Wilson De Courcey, Fletcher Hunt, Asu Kepaoa
The Knights have some real questions around their backline in general heading into the year.
Fletcher Sharpe, who will start their first game at halfback, could well wind up on the wing if things don't work out in the spine.
Regardless of which way that works out, the Knights have some struggles in their backs, particularly defensively.
Dane Gagai is well and truly heading towards the end of his career, while Bradman Best is rocks and diamonds at times. Greg Marzhew is a power packet, but struggles in defence, while Dominic Young has well documented defence and ball handling issues.
” there are issues that need to be addressed though, with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak – not a star by any means, but important to the Warriors – to line up on the other side of the park ”
I’d quibble with your assessment of DWZ as “not a star”. I’d rate him better than plenty of the wingers in clubs that you’ve got higher on the table.