David Middleton's top 5 NRL players of 2025

Now in its 39th year, the Official Rugby League Annual provides a complete rundown of an extraordinary 2025 season.

Compiled by the game's most respected historian David Middleton it covers every game of the NRL season, the NRLW Premiership and full descriptions of State of Origin and Pacific Championships.

To celebrate the release of the , Middleton has picked his top five NRLW players of the year.

The 2025 Official Rugby League Annual in on sale now! Order your copy

Top 5 NRL players of 2025

Payne Haas

Haas was an extraordinary figure in the Broncos’ drought-breaking success in 2025, a colossus in the middle of the field, where games are so often decided. His size and stamina allowed him to play long minutes, most notably in the club’s preliminary final epic against the Panthers when he went the distance in a game played at maximum intensity. The giant front-rower was highly durable, playing 24 of the club’s 27 games and only once missing out through injury. And he regularly played through pain, enduring the inconvenience of a quadriceps tear early in the season and a bulging disc in his back.

Coach Michael Maguire decided to use Haas’ talents more sparingly in the grand final allowing his prime weapon to supply maximum impact in two 26-minute stints. Haas was there at the end when the battle was still to be won and importantly, he had energy in reserve.

Haas had previously dismissed statements by former greats that his achievements had surpassed those of highly regarded front-rowers like Glenn Lazarus and Paul Harragon by saying he needed to win a premiership ring to be in such a conversation. The Broncos’ 26-22 victory on grand final night changed that narrative.

Haas produced arguably his finest performance at State of Origin level when he was named player of the match in the opening game in Brisbane and later in the year, he made a major call on his representative allegiance at international level by pledging his loyalty to Samoa. Haas helped Samoa overpower Tonga in a memorable Pacific Cup Test in Brisbane before leading them to a halftime lead against the Kiwis in the Final before they were over-run in the second half.

Haas will have an opportunity to steer Samoa to greater heights in the 2026 World Cup, and his profile could yet sway other players of Samoan heritage to pledge their future to the Pacific nation.

Former Kangaroo Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow has already indicated he will be available for Samoa, while centre Stephen Crichton will be another high-profile inclusion after he missed the Pacific Championships through injury.

Cameron Munster

A return to full fitness was the key to Cameron Munster playing some of the finest football of his career in 2025, contributing to the Storm’s charge to another grand final; helping steer the Maroons to an improbable Origin series win and playing a key role in the Kangaroos’ Ashes success in England.

Munster’s 2024 season was interrupted by a torn adductor muscle at Magic Round which ruled him out of the State of Origin series and a long stretch of the NRL season. He was able to return after rehab and play out the season, but double hip surgery was required afterwards to offer a more permanent remedy to ongoing groin problems.

Munster had recovered to start the season, and the repair allowed him to make a return to the style of play that had made him one of the most formidable playmakers in the game.

He played almost the entire season for the Storm and starred for the Maroons in their come-from-behind series win before he was named player of the series in the Kangaroos’ Ashes triumph in October and November.

In his first game as Maroons’ captain after being appointed as Daly Cherry-Evans’ successor, Munster led Queensland to a stunning victory in Perth. The Maroons were at long odds after losing the opening game in Brisbane and their previous record in the west read like a horror story. But with Munster leading the way, the Maroons levelled the series before dominating the decider in Sydney. 

Munster played the final game with a heavy heart following the death of his father a few days earlier, but the Storm star did not want to let anyone down and dedicated his game to his dad, Steven.

Munster played leading hands for the Storm as they challenged for the title and finished as the club’s highest performer in the Dally M count.

The Storm star returned to the Kangaroos’ line-up for the first time since 2023 where he reunited in the halves with Panthers No 7 Nathan Cleary. Munster was named player of the match in the Ashes-deciding second Test in Liverpool and later took out a new player of the series honour known as the Fulton-Reilly Award, named after late Immortal Bob Fulton and former Great Britain player and coach Malcolm Reilly.

Munster was also named winner of the Harry Sunderland Medal, the Kangaroos’ players’ player award.

Joseph Tapine

As captain of the Raiders, Tapine was the commander of one of the most compelling NRL clubs of 2025. Through their brilliant performances and fairytale victories, the Green Machine suddenly became everyone’s second favourite team.

The Raiders enthralled supporters with their comeback wins, their golden point escapes and the exuberance of rising talents such as Ethan Strange and Kaeo Weekes. At the centre of it all was Tapine – the cornerstone of the pack and one of its most consistent performers.

Renowned for his offloading ability, Tapine’s ability to stand in tackles, plant his feet and then deliver the ball to eager support runners was a constant for the Raiders throughout the season.

That instinct was evident from Round 1 in Las Vegas, where the Raiders embraced the spotlight with an ambitious attacking plan. Their expansive approach unsettled the Warriors and continued to trouble opponents for the rest of the season, with Tapine helping ignite Canberra’s attacking momentum.

Now 31 and with 236 NRL appearances to his name, Tapine has matured into a polished leader in the nation’s capital. Once known for his fiery on-field temperament, the Wellington-born forward has refined his aggression, learning to channel it to the Raiders’ advantage.

In 2025 he guided a young Raiders side to a minor premiership title 35 years in the making and only the brilliance of Broncos fullback Reece Walsh denied his team taking a giant step towards a grand final appearance.

The Raiders played their part in one of the most gripping finals matches of the year in September and the outcome left the team and their supporters devastated.

Tapine took the loss on his chin and worked with coach Ricky Stuart and other senior Raiders to rally the squad ahead of a sudden-death semi-final against the Sharks. But after their exhausting 93-minute epic the previous week, the mountain ultimately proved too steep, despite Tapine’s best efforts to lift his side once more.

James Tedesco

James Tedesco has had more successful seasons in his career than 2025 but few carried the same sense of satisfaction that ignited his form and helped the Roosters rise again after an exodus of experienced players.

The premiership years of 2018-19 will always hold a treasured place for Tedesco for the pure elation of victory and the fulfillment of a boyhood dream, but 2025 was special in different ways.

The departure of a group of senior Roosters headed by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Joseph Manu, Luke Keary and Michael Jennings threatened to leave the club floundering in 2025 and the team’s horror opening against the Broncos appeared to add weight to the forecasts. In front of their home fans, the Roosters were trounced 50-14 and it seemed that the club was headed for its worst season since 2016 when a similar player exodus led to a 15th placed finish.

At least on opening night, there were a couple of moments that gave Tedesco some hope for a recovery. A newcomer at right centre, 20-year-old Robert Toia, showed flashes of brilliance and there was a confidence about young forward Salesi Foketi, who made his NRL debut on the same night.

The Roosters bounced back in the space of a week to knock over four-times premiers Penrith, with young halfback Hugo Savala given his first taste of the NRL late in the contest. A cheer squad of mates had chartered a bus for the occasion, and the team celebrated the success.

The rise of the rookies became something of a theme for the season as coach Trent Robinson handed NRL debuts to another four players across the regular rounds. The team revelled in the achievements of the young players and as leader, Tedesco was deriving huge satisfaction from nurturing the new talent.

The Roosters’ “rookie class” extended to 24-year-old winger Mark Nawaqanitawase, and Tedesco’s game reached another level when he fed off the class of the Wallaby flyer.

With Tedesco leading the charge, the Roosters made a stirring recovery after some early reverses and booked a place in the finals for a ninth consecutive season.

Tedesco was a constant presence and regularly among the team’s leading performers. By the time the Dally M awards rolled around, the Roosters’ No.1 was a raging favourite and he took out the title for the second time and later added another RLPA Players’ Champion honour and a seventh Jack Gibson Medal in eight seasons as Roosters Player of the Year.

Reece Walsh

When it comes to career purple patches the standard bearer for the past couple of decades has always been Jarryd Hayne and his remarkable run to the Dally M title in 2009. Hayne was judged player of the match six weeks straight on his way to the award and helped power the Eels to the grand final stage.

But few would argue that Hayne’s magical run has now been surpassed by Reece Walsh’s phenomenal patch of form late in the 2025 season.

For the first half of the year Walsh showed flashes of his best however his progress was slowed by a knee injury and six weeks on the sidelines that cost him a possible State of Origin berth for the Maroons.

It wasn’t until his comeback game against the Titans in Round 14 that he earned his first votes of the season in the Dally M count. It was a different story from that point as Walsh regularly caught the eye of judges to poll 41 points and finish seventh overall. His tally included maximum votes in the Broncos’ last four games before the finals and through the Broncos’ run to the decider, Walsh continued his epic ride.

He was a major factor, despite a stint in the sin bin, in the Broncos’ recovery from 28-16 down to defeat the Raiders in the epic qualifying final at GIO Stadium and played a match-winning role in his team’s unforgettable preliminary final win over the Panthers.

The grand final performance by the 23-year-old ranks among the best big-game displays in history as Walsh scored tries, set them up and saved them with remarkable defensive awareness. The contest for the Clive Churchill Medal wasn’t even close.

Walsh carried his form to the international stage with the Kangaroos and made a Test debut at Wembley Stadium that most could only dream of. Unfazed by the surroundings of one of the world’s great football stadiums, Walsh lit up the London venue with two tries and several crucial saves in another player of the match performance.

England managed to subdue Walsh in a scrapping second Test, but the Broncos’ marvel couldn’t be tamed for long and his two tries in the third Test confirmed his standing as the game’s hottest property of 2025.