NRL’s top 50 players: Numbers 40 to 31

The NRL is home to the world’s best rugby league players.

But narrowing the list down to determine the best of the best is no easy task. So to mark the start of the 2025 NRL season, experts from The Sydney Morning Herald and Nine’s Wide World of Sports have come together to give their views – and a collective verdict – on who are the best 50 players in the game right now.

A panel of judges was put together: Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, Darren Lockyer, Allana Ferguson, Roy Masters, Robert Dillon, Billie Eder, Dan Walsh, Adrian Proszenko, Michael Chammas, Christian Nicolussi and Marlee Silva. Together, they have many decades’ experience of playing, coaching, covering and analysing rugby league at the highest level. The players chosen as the top 50 current NRL players can be sure that they’ve earned their selection.

Each judge was asked to compile a list of their own top 30 current NRL players. They were to order the list from 1-30, with the player they considered their No.1 allocated 30 points, their No.2 allocated 29 points, and so on, with the 30th player allocated one point.

We then added up all the points awarded to each player and listed them from most to least. Where there was a tie, we sorted it by alphabetical order. The player with the most points was crowned our pick for the NRL’s No.1-ranked player.

That player will be unveiled on Friday, when the Herald and Wide World of Sports publishes the final article in our 50-1 series. Part one of the series can be found here. Today we rank the players from 40-31.

40. Api Koroisau (Wests Tigers, 17 points)

The diminutive hooker has been the most consistent Wests Tigers player since joining the club from Penrith in 2023. He missed out on NSW Blues selection in 2024 but is still up there with the classiest rakes of the competition. While going from the best team in the competition to the worst is a hard task, Koroisau has led the struggling Tigers through some tough times and may be about to enjoy some success as his former premiership teammate Jarome Luai arrives at Concord.