How often do we hear it? Halves can't play behind beaten forward packs!

NRL middles are perhaps the most under appreciated sportspeople on the planet.

They do all the hard work. They take that first hit up in the big games. They get smashed. They make a mountain of tackles.

Today we are here to talk about the best of the big men.

If you're looking for Pat Carrigan, he will be in the locks. Played 13 games at lock, 12 at prop. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui also played more at lock than at prop.

Mitch Barnett, unfortunately, won't feature due to only playing 11 games, but he was well on track to place very highly.

As always, this list is purely based on 2025 performance rather than being a flat Top Ten list.

With that said, below are the Top Ten props from the 2025 season:

Honourable Mentions: James Fisher-Harris and Fonua Pole

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1. Payne Haas

Honestly at this point everyone else is just playing to be the second best prop in the game. I don't think we've ever seen anything like Payne Haas.

Reece Walsh will, deservedly, own most of the highlights for the Broncos, but Payne Haas had everything to do with their lifting the Premiership trophy.

Twenty-four games for the Broncos saw three tries, an eye-watering 130 tackle breaks, an unheard of 70 offloads, 1614 post-contact metres, 166 metres run per game and over 98% of his tackles made.

Words cannot describe the pain a defection to R360 would cause for fans of the Broncos, NSW Blues and Samoa. His absence will be missed and there is simply no one else like him.

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1 COMMENT

  1. There are no bums in that crowd, Dan.

    For me, Lindsay Smith is the “Mr. Unappreciated” of the NRL.
    He has stepped up as the replacement for James Fisher-Harris (who had a quiet season at the Warriors – maybe weighed down by all that coin in his pockets).

    The fact that the Panthers middle didn’t seem to miss JFH says a lot about the effectiveness of Smith, last season.