The ten most improved NRL players in 2023

2023 was a year of big changes right across the NRL. From a new team, to the improvement of the Warriors and Knights, to other teams like the Rabbitohs, Eels and Cowboys being on a slippery slope to the bottom, there was plenty to keep track of week to week. A season like that is always going to bring contrasting ideals for a number of players, and there were some who made major leaps forward on their careers. For some, it has already new contracts signed, while for others, potential has been fulfilled. For one, you could argue it was a career-saving season. Here are the ten most improved players from the 2023 NRL season. Bryce Cartwright (Parramatta Eels) All in all, it was an exceptionally disappointing season for the Parramatta Eels, who went from 2022 grand finalists to missing the top eight this time around. But if there was a bright spot, then it was Bryce Cartwright. Seemingly on the ropes as far as landing another NRL contract went at the start of the campaign, he is now signed with the blue and gold until at least the end of 2025. Parramatta needed someone to step up and replace Isaiah Papali'i who went to the Tigers, and Cartwright did just that, playing all 24 games and starting all of them after Round 12. He crossed for seven tries, added 52 offloads and ran for 111 metres per game. A genuinely good season for Cartwright so once was rated as one of the best youngsters in the game. Wayde Egan (New Zealand Warriors) Some will probably suggest improved is the wrong word for Egan - he was excellent for the Warriors in 2022 and among their best during that final difficult COVID-impacted season. But 2023 saw the dummy half go to another level. There is little doubt that in the modern game you can't go close to winning a premiership without a dominant number nine, and Egan was just that. He was, without a shadow of a doubt, in the top couple of number nines in the competition. While his defence was among the best, it was his attack where he shone, linking beautifully time and time again with Shaun Johnson and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. The trio made the Warriors something of a powerhouse, and the Andrew Webster-coached side wound up with a preliminary final to show for it. Billy Walters (Brisbane Broncos) Walters came into the 2023 campaign not really knowing whether he would be the starting nine for more than a few weeks. He had competition from Cory Paix, who played off the bench during the first part, as well as Tyson Smoothy, who had impressed with the Storm before being named the QLD Cup player of the year with the Sunshine Coast Falcons. It was that form which saw Smoothy picked up by the Broncos on a deal for the 2023 campaign. Then there was also the ever growing presence of Blake Mozer, who has been rated by a number of good judges as the next coming of Cameron Smith. So it was fair to say Walters had his work cut out for him if he wanted to be the first-choice number nine at Red Hill under father Kevin's coaching for the entirety of the season. But by the mid-way point of the year, he had cemented that role, and will now go into 2024 as just that. A grand final team's first choice hooker. Jack Cogger (Penrith Panthers) Cogger had often showed potential throughout the first chunk of his NRL career without ever really realising it, and the move to Penrith had to be a game changer. It was something of a risk for Cogger - he knew he wouldn't be starting, and would be a fill-in for Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai. Fast forward 12 months though and he became as important to Penrith's premiership as any, playing a role during the finals series and grand final, holding Penrith during a tricky Origin campaign and doing his job whenever he was called upon. That has now led to Cogger signing a multi-year deal with the Newcastle Knights where he will immediately become one of the club's most important players. Jeremy Marshall-King (The Dolphins) Marshall-King was phenomenal throughout 2023. Once upon a time, Marshall-King was a half at the Bulldogs who was thrust into the hooking role as a stop-gap measure when the club were short on options to play the important role. He turned himself into a serviceable number nine at Belmore, although little more as the Bulldogs struggled year after year. Still, he obviously had shown enough for Wayne Bennett to take a chance, and Marshall-King wasted no time becoming the first-choice number nine in Redcliffe, and, almost immediately one of their best. His improvement throughout the campaign was out of this world and he will look to go to another level in 2024 as a very crucial cog in the system. Nick Meaney (Melbourne Storm) Meaney's second season at the Storm saw him evolve his game from a winger, to a stop-gap measure anywhere across the backline at the end of his first year in the Victorian capital, to Melbourne's first-choice number one at the start of his second. There is now a very real argument to suggest it's a jersey he should hang onto heading into 2024 even if Ryan Papenhuyzen does return. That's how good his form was. Meaney was among the best fullbacks in the competition during 2023. He finished the season with ten tries, 11 try assists, and an average of 147 metres per game. They are numbers any fullback would be proud of, but more importantly, he fit into the Melbourne side like a glove and now has a new deal to show for it. Phoenix Crossland (Newcastle Knights) In any standard year, you may well have had Crossland as the number one on this list. There are a number of players who had a say in Newcastle's stunning second half of the season. Kalyn Ponga certainly takes most of the credit, and the forwards stood up, but with Jayden Brailey injured, filling the number nine jumper was of critical importance. The problem of course was that with Chris Randall moving to the Titans, the Knights didn't really have a second-choice. And so, Crossland, along with Kurt Mann, was thrust into the role for much of the season. Crossland was a half, who became a utility, and then a hooker, and he excelled there during 2023. Whether it's a role he will hold moving forward is anyone's guess, but he is now an established, cemented first-grader with a new contract and will be a big part of Adam O'Brien's side moving into 2024. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (New Zealand Warriors) The first of two wingers in the top three, Watene-Zelezniak has always been something of a consistent force working away in the background throughout his NRL career. That changed largely in 2023 as the man they call DWZ became a weapon for the Warriors. He was outstanding from the first game to the last game. Consistent in his ability to find the tryline, Watene-Zelezniak also added plenty in both running the football and defensively for the Warriors and fully deserves his spot in the top three on this list. Jamayne Isaako (The Dolphins) Some will suggest Isaako should take the number one on this list, although I'll well and truly stand by the decision. But Isaako was outstanding. For a discarded Bronco who went via the Titans, then arrived at the Dolphins with, by the admission of himself and his coach, no guarantee of a starting spot, he rapidly made the wing his own. Rediscovering the form he had during his rookie season in the NRL but hadn't gone close to matching since, Isaako became the competition's leading try and point-scorer, despite playing in a team that narrowly avoided the bottom four. His finishing ability and consistency was sensational, he was exceptional in defence and under the high ball, and did the hard yards regularly. Corey Horsburgh (Canberra Raiders) To me, no player improved more than Corey Horsburgh in the 2023 campaign. I saw it coming too. Horsburgh played 2022 and previous seasons with excellent aggression, but hadn't quite channelled that into the best version of himself. Nor had he become consistent with big minutes or locked into a role at the Raiders. With Adam Elliott - who did a superb job in 2022 at lock - leaving for the Newcastle Knights, the green machine's 13 jersey was there for the taking in 2023 for Horsburgh. He was kept out of it during the opening weeks, but improved and impressed off the bench before being thrown into the starting side, where he spent the rest of the season putting out big production and big minutes for Ricky Stuart. He was sniffing around the Origin squad by the time it rolled around and then made his debut in Game 3, before going back to the Raiders and continuing to improve over the remainder of the campaign. There is little doubt that he will join Joseph Tapine as Canberra's most important forwards heading into 2024.

		P	W	L	PTS	+/-
1	CAN	2	2	0	6	5
2	MEL	2	2	0	4	74
3	NZW	2	2	0	4	58
4	PEN	2	2	0	4	46
5	NEW	2	2	0	4	30
6	WST	1	1	0	4	28
7	CRO	2	1	1	2	20
8	SOU	2	1	1	2	2

The ten most improved NRL players in 2023

These players made major gains in 2023.

3. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (New Zealand Warriors)

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