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.
RELATED: Every NRL forward pack ranked for 2026
Centres are also more important than ever, particularly in defence.
Here is every club's centres and wingers ranked.
14. Wests Tigers
Wingers: Heamasi Makasini and Sunia Turuva
Centres: Taylan May and Starford To'a
Other options: Will Craig, Patrick Herbert, Jeral Skelton
The Tigers might be well and truly up this list by the end of the season, but at the start of it, it's impossible to consider the joint-venture ready to go with the big guns.
Taylan May returned from a long lay off at the end of 2025 and impressed, while Heamasi Makasini is one of the best juniors in the game and, right now, seems the favourite for rookie of the year.
Sunia Turuva, experienced at winning from his time at Penrith, will again be a key part of the Tigers in 2026 and leads this quartet.
Starford To'a had a career-best year in 2025 too and could build on it, but has plenty of work to do to become elite.
” 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.