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.
9. New Zealand Warriors
Wingers: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Alofiana Khan-Pereira
Centres: Ali Leiataua and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Other options: Rocco Berry, Haizyn Mellars, Adam Pompey
The Warriors welcome Alofiana Khan-Pereira to the club in 2026 in a major addition to their backline and try-scoring ability.
The former Titan has a tremendous strike rate for adding four pointers to a side's scoreline, and could be even better at the Warriors with the quality of player around him.
Defensively, 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.
That ultimately pushes Roger Tuiasa-Sheck into the centres, with the star having an enormous 2025, while we are backing Ali Leiataua - another rising star - to take the vacant position.
” 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.