Over the past decade-or-so, we've seen the fullback role both change and increase in importance.
Fullbacks are now expected to have the ballplaying skills of halves, the running metres of forwards, and try scoring abilities of wingers.
We're in a golden age of Rugby League fullbacks. 2022 saw a number of brilliant performances in the custodial role.
Below we look at the ten best performances by fullbacks in 2022. To be eligible, the player in question must have played fullback in more games than he did another position.
Please note this is a best of 2022 list and not necessarily the best fullbacks in the game. For example, Tom Trbojevic won't feature below despite being undisputedly in the top two or three fullbacks in the game.
2. James Tedesco
James Tedesco was awarded the Fullback of the year position recently at the Dally Ms. Under the current points system, it couldn't be anyone else. He also won our Zero Tackle NRL MVP Award under a similar point system.
I'd argue there was one better fullback in 2022 but I could not argue, for a single second, he wasn't a very close second.
13 tries, 12 try assists, 17 line breaks, 212 run metres per game. 169 tackle breaks. One hundred and sixty-nine tackle breaks!!! 24 more than anyone else in the competition.
Tedesco is probably the game's most important player. He spearheaded a late charge by his side that saw him almost claim the Dally M medal.
You could put the top four in any order and I would not disagree with your conclusion. There is little to choose between any of them. All excellent players.