Ponga, Boyd and Trindall dominate opening games: Zero Tackle’s NRL MVP, Round 1

Newcastle Knights fullback Kalyn Ponga, New Zealand Warriors stand in half Tanah Boyd and Cronulla Sharks star Braydon Trindall have been the only three players to receive a perfect 20 votes out of the opening round in Zero Tackle's 2026 NRL MVP count.

The three players were all at their best as their respective teams ran out winners throughout the split Round 1, with two games played over a week ago in Las Vegas where the Knights beat the Cowboys and the Bulldogs beat the Dragons.

Viliame Kikau was one of the players who narrowly missed out on 20 votes, grabbing 19 alongside Harry Grant (Melbourne Storm), Dylan Edwards (Penrith Panthers) and Tolutau Koula (Manly Sea Eagles).

The only other players to be voted as best on ground by at least one judge were Stephen Crichton (Canterbury Bulldogs), Stefano Utoikamanu (Melbourne Storm), Thomas Jenkins (Penrith Panthers) and Noah Martin (Canberra Raiders) who was a surprise selection to kick-off the season in the second-row for Ricky Stuart's side.

As a reminder of how this works, our panel, comprising Zero Tackle founder Matt Clements, journalist Leo Twemlow (who replaces Ethan Lee Chalk), and writer Dan Nichols, alongside myself as editor, will cast votes on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis from each game of the premiership season.

It means our competition will likely spit out a slightly different result to other typical 3-2-1 vote systems, with players able to gain a maximum of 20 votes in any given week.

Here are all the votes from Round 1.

 2026-03-01T02:15:00Z 

Knights WON BY 10 POINTS

Allegiant Stadium

NEW   

28

FT

18

   NQL

   Crowd: 45,719

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

 2026-03-01T04:30:00Z 

Bulldogs WON BY 1 POINTS

Allegiant Stadium

CAN   

15

FT

14

   STI

   Crowd: 45,719

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

 2026-03-05T09:00:00Z 

Storm WON BY 48 POINTS

AAMI Park

MEL   

52

FT

4

   PAR

    #NRLStormEels

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

 2026-03-06T07:00:00Z 

Warriors WON BY 24 POINTS

Go Media Stadium

NZW   

42

FT

18

   SYD

   Crowd: 24,112

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

 2026-03-06T09:00:00Z 

Panthers WON BY 26 POINTS

Suncorp Stadium

BRI   

0

FT

26

   PEN

   Crowd: 45,566

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

 2026-03-07T06:30:00Z 

Sharks WON BY 40 POINTS

Ocean Protect Stadium

CRO   

50

FT

10

   GLD

   Crowd: 11,548

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

 2026-03-07T08:30:00Z 

Raiders WON BY 1 POINTS

4 Pines Park

MAN   

28

FT

29

   CBR

   Crowd: 17,253

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

 2026-03-08T05:05:00Z 

Rabbitohs WON BY 10 POINTS

Suncorp Stadium

DOL   

30

FT

40

   SOU

   Crowd: 20,114

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎