Nathan Cleary has taken back the lead of Zero Tackle’s NRL MVP a quarter of the way through the 2026 NRL season, but there were a host of perfectly rated players who have jumped into the top ten during a weekend of movers and shakers.
Cleary managed 15 votes during Penrith’s win over the Dolphins in Darwin, but it was Jackson Ford, who is up to third, Latrell Mitchell (fifth), Tolutau Koula (seventh) and James Tedesco (eighth) who impressed.
Simi Sasagoi was also rated as perfect and sits in 12th spot.
For Ford, Tedesco and Sasagi it was a second week in a row they were handed a perfect 20 votes.
Elsewhere, Herbie Farnworth, Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, Xavier Willison, Adam Reynolds, Will Penisini and Junior Paulo were all rated as best on ground by at least one judge.
With Scott Drinkwater failing to poll, Cleary was able to jump back into first place, but it’s tight at the top. Just three votes separate the duo, while Jackson Ford is another two votes away, and only 31 votes separate first through to tenth place.
As a reminder of how this works, our panel, comprising Zero Tackle founder Matt Clements, journalist Leo Twemlow, and writer Dan Nichols, alongside myself as editor, will cast votes on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis from each game of the premiership season.
Here are the Round 6 votes.
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