The prop forwards. Not a position that draws the attention of the halfback role, or even the modern-day fullback, but just as important.
They say that Origin is won in the forwards. It's hard to name a brilliant halfback who stars with any sort of consistency whilst playing behind a beaten forward pack.
In 2022 we are spoilt when it comes to middle forwards. The shortlist here was 18, without even deep diving for names that didn't come to mind right away.
Some super-performing props are going to miss out here, but here are the 10 props I believe performed best in 2022.
Only 2022 is taken into account. To qualify a player must have played more games in the front row than elsewhere. There may be some crossover with the lock position, but we'll cross that if and when we come to it.
2. James Fisher-Harris
I fully expected Fisher-Harris to walk out with the Dally M Team of the Year a few weeks ago. For mine he was comfortably a top two prop in 2022.
JFH is the main weapon in an other-wordly Panther forward pack. He is the pack leader and starts at prop for any side you can produce.
Three tries, 33 tackle breaks, 16 offloads, 1309 post-contact metres, 148 metres per game and 714 tackles at 95.1% prove his worth to the game's elite club side.
Defence is, for some reason, a hugely undervalued and underappreciated part of the prop's job description but JFH may be the best defender in the game.
Personally, I would have dropped David Klemmer for Jordan McLean, but I can’t really grumble about that list.