Best On Ground

Best on Ground · The season in data

2026 NRL fan leaderboard: the season race

Follow the 2026 Best on Ground Dally M simulation round by round, with cumulative points, lead changes and the final top ten.

2026 regular season · Rounds 1–27 · Independent fan voting

Panthers crest
Nathan ClearyPanthers crest
#1 · Season standingsNathan ClearyPanthers77 ptsDally M simulation
Knights crest
Kalyn PongaKnights crest
#2 · Season standingsKalyn PongaKnights55 ptsDally M simulation
Storm crest
Sualauvi FaalogoStorm crest
#3 · Season standingsSualauvi FaalogoStorm47 ptsDally M simulation
4,615ballots cast
142unique voters
198matches with votes
383players picked

How Nathan Cleary finished on top

Nathan Cleary finished with 77 simulated points, 22 ahead of Kalyn Ponga. The chart follows the eventual top five through all 27 rounds. The round-end table also checks every other player, so an early leader outside the final top five still appears below.

The outright leader or joint-leader group changed 2 times between consecutive round ends. Joint leaders share the same cumulative points; we do not use end-of-season vote totals to break historical ties. These are reconstructed standings from today's closed-match ballots, not archived screenshots of what the website showed on each date.

The final top five, round by round
019395877R1R9R18R27

Lines track the final top five, not every player who led during the season. A flat line means no simulated points in that round; it does not establish whether a player appeared.

Download the season-race graphic (PNG) →Download the season-race graphic (SVG) →
Final top ten in the 2026 regular-season simulation
RankPlayerClubSim pointsScoring rounds
1Nathan ClearyPanthers crestNathan ClearyPanthersPanthers crestPanthers7715
2Kalyn PongaKnights crestKalyn PongaKnightsKnights crestKnights5513
3Sualauvi FaalogoStorm crestSualauvi FaalogoStormStorm crestStorm4712
4Herbie FarnworthDolphins crestHerbie FarnworthDolphinsDolphins crestDolphins4710
5Thomas JenkinsPanthers crestThomas JenkinsPanthersPanthers crestPanthers4411
6James TedescoRoosters crestJames TedescoRoostersRoosters crestRoosters428
7Braydon TrindallSharks crestBraydon TrindallSharksSharks crestSharks429
8Dylan EdwardsPanthers crestDylan EdwardsPanthersPanthers crestPanthers4111
9Matt BurtonBulldogs crestMatt BurtonBulldogsBulldogs crestBulldogs399
10Isaiya KatoaDolphins crestIsaiya KatoaDolphinsDolphins crestDolphins3710

Who led at the end of each round?

Ballot and match counts describe coverage in that round. A point total carries forward through a bye or a round without an award. Use the player links to inspect the underlying match history before interpreting a flat stretch as poor form.

Round-end leaders across the full player field; equal points remain joint leaders
RoundLeader(s)Cumulative ptsVoted matchesBallots
1Kalyn Ponga, Braydon Trindall, Harry Grant68546
2Tanah Boyd118396
3Tanah Boyd178352
4Nathan Cleary198319
5Nathan Cleary248295
6Nathan Cleary248267
7Nathan Cleary308271
8Nathan Cleary348286
9Nathan Cleary398240
10Nathan Cleary458178
11Nathan Cleary458174
12Nathan Cleary45359
13Nathan Cleary457123
14Nathan Cleary518116
15Nathan Cleary51578
16Nathan Cleary51794
17Nathan Cleary518101
18Nathan Cleary51332
19Nathan Cleary51778
20Nathan Cleary51886
21Nathan Cleary57878
22Nathan Cleary63887
23Nathan Cleary63881
24Nathan Cleary63874
25Nathan Cleary67881
26Nathan Cleary72870
27Nathan Cleary77653

Keep exploring the season

Open the full player leaderboard →

Have your say in 2027

The 2026 season has finished. Get an email reminder when the 2027 season begins.