With the off-season comes the usual troupes.
Talk of expansion, the divisions talk, player movements and of course post-season rankings.
Today we're here to focus on the rankings. More specifically, the NRL prop rankings from 2023.
Please keep in mind that these rankings are based only on 2023. Both NRL and Origin performances will be taken into account. Not specifically who is the best front rower outright.
If you're looking for Cotter, he played more games as a lock and thus qualifies there.
Before we start, I'm going to take a moment to answer some of the usual questions to appear in the comments to any sort of rankings.
Do I even watch football? Yes, every game.
Are my eyes painted on? No. That would be funny though.
Who am I? Just a fan.
With that said, below are the top 10 NRL props based purely and totally on 2023:
Honourable mentions: Taniela Paseka, Toafofoa Sipley, Junior Paulo
2. Addin Fonua-Blake
There is a reason social media lit up yesterday when news of AFB's request for a release broke. He walks into 15 other teams starting line up, and probably makes the Panthers side also.
Fonua-Blake was enormous in 2023. He had a career best season and in any other season in memory would have been the clear prop of the year.
In 26 games in 2023 he crossed for nine tries, averaged 171 metres per game, broke 73 tackles produced 35 offloads, made 1670 post contact metres, made 10 line breaks and just shy of 96% of his tackles.
Warriors fans will be crushed by their star prop's request but can certainly say they enjoyed the very best of Addin Fonua-Blake.
