Every 2026 NPC player, ranked by position: tries, tackles, metres and minutes

Five hundred and fourteen players took the field in the 2026 Hilux NPC, in 3,452 appearances across the ten regular-season rounds, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and Monday's final. Between them they scored 708 tries, made 23,485 tackles and ran 69,704 metres. This is every one of them, ranked by position on four measures: tries, tackles, metres run and minutes played.

How the rankings work

The data is Opta's per-player season record for the competition, as published through RugbyPass, cross-checked against each player's own match list. Games, minutes and tries include the final. For the 46 Canterbury and Northland players who played in it, tackles and metres run are to the end of the semifinals, because Opta's season totals had not absorbed the final when this was compiled; those two columns will be refreshed when they have.
Positions are the jersey each player started in most often in 2026, read from the team sheets of all 77 matches, not the label on a profile page. Bench-only players are grouped from their union's squad list. Locks 4 and 5 are one group, the three loose-forward jerseys are one, the two wings are one, and the midfield (12 and 13) is one.
Within each position there are four top tens, one per measure, then a RUGBE combined rank: the average of a player's four rankings, for players with at least three games. A player who is top ten in everything ranks ahead of one who leads a single column. It rewards the all-round season, which is what a selector weighs.
Every player appeared in the data is ranked, not only the names in the tables. A card link on a name takes you to that player's RUGBE profile.

A few things the numbers say before the tables do. The most minutes played by anyone was 961, by Canterbury No. 8 Dom Gardiner, with Taranaki fullback Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens (960) and Canterbury first five Andrew Knewstubb (954) within seven minutes of him. The most tries was 19, Kyren Taumoefolau's new single-season record for Tasman. The most tackles was 184, by Counties Manukau flanker Adam Brash. The most metres, 1,148, were Taumoefolau's as well.

Props

90 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Benjamin Lopas	Otago	3	11
2	Marcel Renata	Northland	3	10
3	Paula Latu	Southland	3	8
4	Riley Tofilau	North Harbour	3	11
5	Benet Kumeroa	Bay of Plenty	2	4
6	Feleti Sae-Ta’ufo’ou	Manawatū	2	9
7	Gus Brown	Canterbury	2	10
8	Leka Tu'ungafasi	North Harbour	2	11
9	Mason Tupaea	Waikato	2	11
10	Saula Mau	Otago	2	7

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Mason Tupaea	Waikato	130	11
2	Esile Fono	Northland	119	13
3	Josh Fusitua	Auckland	111	10
4	Angus Ta'avao	Auckland	108	9
5	Benjamin Lopas	Otago	105	11
6	Finlay Brewis	Canterbury	94	11
7	Jared Proffit	Taranaki	94	12
8	Jake Turnbull	Wellington	93	9
9	Joe Apikotoa	Hawke's Bay	91	9
10	Jack Sexton	Southland	90	10

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Mason Tupaea	Waikato	151	11
2	Benjamin Lopas	Otago	146	11
3	Riley Tofilau	North Harbour	107	11
4	Joe Apikotoa	Hawke's Bay	96	9
5	Joseph Gavigan	Manawatū	84	7
6	Jarred Adams	Counties Manukau	77	9
7	Leka Tu'ungafasi	North Harbour	74	11
8	Hadlee Hay-Horton	Hawke's Bay	66	11
9	Jake Turnbull	Wellington	62	9
10	Marley Pearce	Otago	62	8

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Esile Fono	Northland	762	13
2	Jared Proffit	Taranaki	677	12
3	Finlay Brewis	Canterbury	672	11
4	Mason Tupaea	Waikato	669	11
5	Josh Fusitua	Auckland	592	10
6	Leka Tu'ungafasi	North Harbour	572	11
7	Marcel Renata	Northland	566	10
8	Benjamin Lopas	Otago	561	11
9	George Dyer	Waikato	541	11
10	Angus Ta'avao	Auckland	498	9

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Mason Tupaea	Waikato	2	130	151	669	3.8
2	Benjamin Lopas	Otago	3	105	146	561	4.0
3	Leka Tu'ungafasi	North Harbour	2	80	74	572	8.2
4	Finlay Brewis	Canterbury	1	94	52	672	10.5
5	Joe Apikotoa	Hawke's Bay	1	91	96	496	11.2
6	Jake Turnbull	Wellington	1	93	62	436	13.2
7	Esile Fono	Northland	0	119	59	762	13.5
8	Marcel Renata	Northland	3	63	37	566	14.8
9	Paula Latu	Southland	3	50	61	416	16.2
10	Riley Tofilau	North Harbour	3	58	107	311	17.0

Hookers

47 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Bradley Slater	Taranaki	7	6
2	George Bell	Canterbury	7	5
3	Brodie McAlister	Canterbury	6	9
4	Henry Bell	Otago	5	11
5	JJ Pokai	Taranaki	5	12
6	Sean Ralph	Waikato	5	10
7	Eli Oudenryn	Tasman	4	10
8	James Mullan	Northland	4	12
9	Kianu Kereru-Symes	Hawke's Bay	4	11
10	Bryn Gordon	North Harbour	3	11

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	James Mullan	Northland	140	12
2	Henry Bell	Otago	114	11
3	Eli Oudenryn	Tasman	108	10
4	Bryn Gordon	North Harbour	105	11
5	Penieli Poasa	Wellington	103	10
6	JJ Pokai	Taranaki	97	12
7	Sean Ralph	Waikato	97	10
8	Jayden Henderson	Southland	89	9
9	Nathaniel Pole	Auckland	87	10
10	Brodie McAlister	Canterbury	82	9

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Eli Oudenryn	Tasman	268	10
2	Jayden Henderson	Southland	166	9
3	Nathaniel Pole	Auckland	160	10
4	James Mullan	Northland	158	12
5	Bryn Gordon	North Harbour	146	11
6	Brodie McAlister	Canterbury	136	9
7	George Bell	Canterbury	134	5
8	Sean Ralph	Waikato	130	10
9	James O'Reilly	Wellington	121	7
10	Henry Bell	Otago	113	11

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	James Mullan	Northland	752	12
2	Bryn Gordon	North Harbour	694	11
3	Henry Bell	Otago	623	11
4	Eli Oudenryn	Tasman	610	10
5	Nathaniel Pole	Auckland	518	10
6	Brodie McAlister	Canterbury	499	9
7	Sean Ralph	Waikato	477	10
8	Penieli Poasa	Wellington	455	10
9	Jayden Henderson	Southland	452	9
10	JJ Pokai	Taranaki	440	12

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	James Mullan	Northland	4	140	158	752	3.5
2	Eli Oudenryn	Tasman	4	108	268	610	3.8
3	Henry Bell	Otago	5	114	113	623	4.8
4	Bryn Gordon	North Harbour	3	105	146	694	5.2
5	Brodie McAlister	Canterbury	6	82	136	499	6.2
6	Sean Ralph	Waikato	5	97	130	477	7.0
7	Jayden Henderson	Southland	2	89	166	452	8.2
8	Nathaniel Pole	Auckland	2	87	160	518	8.2
9	Bradley Slater	Taranaki	7	71	71	392	9.8
10	JJ Pokai	Taranaki	5	97	53	440	10.2

Locks

67 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Hunter Morrison	Hawke's Bay	6	11
2	Rory Woods	Manawatū	5	9
3	Xavier Treacy	Canterbury	4	11
4	Tahlor Cahill	Canterbury	3	13
5	Frank Lochore	Hawke's Bay	2	11
6	Hamilton Burr	Waikato	2	7
7	Jamie Hannah	Canterbury	2	7
8	Jayden Sa	Taranaki	2	10
9	Jimmy Tupou	Counties Manukau	2	8
10	Josh Beehre	Auckland	2	4

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Tahlor Cahill	Canterbury	164	13
2	Frank Lochore	Hawke's Bay	147	11
3	Tom Allen	Hawke's Bay	133	11
4	Rob Harley	Manawatū	128	10
5	Allan Craig	Northland	125	13
6	Joshua Goodhue	Northland	125	12
7	Jack Lee	North Harbour	116	9
8	Tai Cribb	Auckland	115	10
9	Antonio Shalfoon	Tasman	112	9
10	Xavier Treacy	Canterbury	112	11

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Hunter Morrison	Hawke's Bay	341	11
2	Frank Lochore	Hawke's Bay	247	11
3	Matolu Petaia	Wellington	211	9
4	Veikoso Poloniati	Counties Manukau	193	10
5	Tahlor Cahill	Canterbury	165	13
6	Xavier Treacy	Canterbury	151	11
7	Naitoa Ah Kuoi	Bay of Plenty	136	9
8	Clement Halaholo	Southland	134	8
9	Lopeti Faifua	Tasman	130	10
10	Rory Woods	Manawatū	124	9

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Allan Craig	Northland	920	13
2	Frank Lochore	Hawke's Bay	879	11
3	Joshua Goodhue	Northland	807	12
4	Tahlor Cahill	Canterbury	801	13
5	Rob Harley	Manawatū	788	10
6	Tom Allen	Hawke's Bay	739	11
7	Naitoa Ah Kuoi	Bay of Plenty	720	9
8	Tai Cribb	Auckland	705	10
9	Ale Aho	Southland	694	10
10	Dylan Eti	Waikato	684	10

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Frank Lochore	Hawke's Bay	2	147	247	879	2.8
2	Tahlor Cahill	Canterbury	3	164	165	801	3.5
3	Xavier Treacy	Canterbury	4	112	151	580	8.5
4	Hunter Morrison	Hawke's Bay	6	84	341	517	9.5
5	Naitoa Ah Kuoi	Bay of Plenty	2	103	136	720	9.5
6	Veikoso Poloniati	Counties Manukau	2	83	193	531	13.8
7	Allan Craig	Northland	0	125	83	920	14.0
8	Jack Lee	North Harbour	1	116	84	622	14.8
9	Rory Woods	Manawatū	5	82	124	386	15.0
10	Tom Allen	Hawke's Bay	1	133	73	739	15.0

Loose forwards

104 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Lucas Casey	Otago	10	11
2	Christian Lio-Willie	Otago	6	12
3	Lachlan Hooper	Northland	6	13
4	George Reeves	North Harbour	5	11
5	Oli Mathis	Waikato	5	9
6	Brayden Iose	Manawatū	4	8
7	Corey Kellow	Canterbury	4	13
8	Dom Gardiner	Canterbury	4	13
9	Dominic Ropeti	Wellington	4	10
10	Du'Plessis Kirifi	Wellington	4	9

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Adam Brash	Counties Manukau	184	10
2	Dom Gardiner	Canterbury	173	13
3	Sean Withy	Southland	168	10
4	Corey Kellow	Canterbury	166	13
5	Joe Johnston	Bay of Plenty	162	10
6	TK Howden	Manawatū	162	10
7	Jesse Parete	Taranaki	156	11
8	Mitchell Jacobson	Waikato	140	10
9	Will Stodart	Otago	139	12
10	Veveni Lasaqa	Bay of Plenty	136	10

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Nikora Broughton	Bay of Plenty	760	10
2	Christian Lio-Willie	Otago	563	12
3	Lucas Casey	Otago	464	11
4	Dom Gardiner	Canterbury	421	13
5	Brayden Iose	Manawatū	373	8
6	Oscar Koller	North Harbour	362	10
7	George Reeves	North Harbour	361	11
8	Oli Mathis	Waikato	361	9
9	Sam Clarke	Taranaki	329	12
10	Cameron Howell	North Harbour	328	10

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Dom Gardiner	Canterbury	961	13
2	Andrew Knewstubb	Canterbury	954	13
3	Corey Kellow	Canterbury	939	13
4	Christian Lio-Willie	Otago	919	12
5	Will Stodart	Otago	911	12
6	Lachlan Hooper	Northland	863	13
7	Lucas Casey	Otago	830	11
8	Adam Brash	Counties Manukau	800	10
9	Sean Withy	Southland	800	10
10	Jesse Parete	Taranaki	782	11

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Dom Gardiner	Canterbury	4	173	421	961	3.8
2	Lucas Casey	Otago	10	133	464	830	5.5
3	Christian Lio-Willie	Otago	6	119	563	919	6.2
4	Nikora Broughton	Bay of Plenty	4	119	760	774	11.0
5	Corey Kellow	Canterbury	4	166	176	939	11.8
6	Cooper Flanders	Hawke's Bay	3	131	301	707	15.2
7	Sean Withy	Southland	3	168	215	800	15.2
8	Oli Mathis	Waikato	5	121	361	620	15.5
9	Terrell Peita	Northland	4	112	316	752	15.8
10	George Reeves	North Harbour	5	104	361	624	17.8

Halfbacks

49 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Folau Fakatava	Hawke's Bay	7	11
2	Kieran McClea	Otago	6	11
3	Sam Nock	Northland	4	12
4	Adam Lennox	Taranaki	3	8
5	Issak Fines-Leleiwasa	Auckland	2	9
6	James Arscott	Auckland	2	8
7	Kade Manuel	Hawke's Bay	2	4
8	Logan Henry	Wellington	2	10
9	Louie Chapman	Canterbury	2	12
10	Richard Judd	Bay of Plenty	2	7

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Folau Fakatava	Hawke's Bay	79	11
2	Nic Shearer	Southland	70	10
3	Louie Chapman	Canterbury	69	12
4	Logan Henry	Wellington	65	10
5	Sam Nock	Northland	60	12
6	Logan Crowley	Taranaki	57	8
7	Melani Matavao	Counties Manukau	55	10
8	Joel Lam	Otago	52	10
9	Tyson Belworthy	Canterbury	51	12
10	Noah Hotham	Tasman	49	6

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Folau Fakatava	Hawke's Bay	402	11
2	Kieran McClea	Otago	353	11
3	Adam Lennox	Taranaki	259	8
4	Sam Nock	Northland	258	12
5	Joel Lam	Otago	206	10
6	Nic Shearer	Southland	161	10
7	Logan Henry	Wellington	152	10
8	Logan Crowley	Taranaki	151	8
9	Tyson Belworthy	Canterbury	141	12
10	Noah Hotham	Tasman	132	6

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Sam Nock	Northland	759	12
2	Louie Chapman	Canterbury	683	12
3	Folau Fakatava	Hawke's Bay	670	11
4	Nic Shearer	Southland	653	10
5	Kieran McClea	Otago	569	11
6	Logan Henry	Wellington	539	10
7	Bryn Hall	North Harbour	526	9
8	Doug Philipson	Manawatū	484	10
9	Issak Fines-Leleiwasa	Auckland	467	9
10	Adam Lennox	Taranaki	461	8

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Folau Fakatava	Hawke's Bay	7	79	402	670	1.5
2	Sam Nock	Northland	4	60	258	759	3.2
3	Kieran McClea	Otago	6	37	353	569	6.2
4	Logan Henry	Wellington	2	65	152	539	6.2
5	Louie Chapman	Canterbury	2	69	122	683	6.2
6	Adam Lennox	Taranaki	3	39	259	461	7.5
7	Nic Shearer	Southland	1	70	161	653	8.0
8	Joel Lam	Otago	1	52	206	378	10.5
9	Tyson Belworthy	Canterbury	2	51	141	319	11.2
10	Issak Fines-Leleiwasa	Auckland	2	39	81	467	11.8

First five-eighths

21 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Coby Miln	North Harbour	5	8
2	Reece MacDonald	Manawatū	3	9
3	Rico Simpson	Auckland	3	10
4	Rivez Reihana	Northland	3	13
5	Stephen Perofeta	Auckland	3	5
6	Taha Kemara	Waikato	3	10
7	Harry Godfrey	Hawke's Bay	2	10
8	D'Angelo Leuila	Waikato	1	8
9	George Worboys	Manawatū	1	8
10	Jason Robertson	Bay of Plenty	1	5

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Rivez Reihana	Northland	58	13
2	Taha Kemara	Waikato	50	10
3	Harry Godfrey	Hawke's Bay	46	10
4	Cameron Millar	Otago	33	12
5	Reece MacDonald	Manawatū	33	9
6	D'Angelo Leuila	Waikato	31	8
7	Stephen Perofeta	Auckland	31	5
8	Lucas Cashmore	Bay of Plenty	27	8
9	Josh Jacomb	Taranaki	26	4
10	Rico Simpson	Auckland	26	10

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Rico Simpson	Auckland	684	10
2	Reece MacDonald	Manawatū	575	9
3	Rivez Reihana	Northland	528	13
4	Harry Godfrey	Hawke's Bay	481	10
5	Taha Kemara	Waikato	379	10
6	Stephen Perofeta	Auckland	274	5
7	Cameron Millar	Otago	257	12
8	Lucas Cashmore	Bay of Plenty	218	8
9	D'Angelo Leuila	Waikato	202	8
10	George Worboys	Manawatū	183	8

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Rivez Reihana	Northland	927	13
2	Cameron Millar	Otago	802	12
3	Rico Simpson	Auckland	800	10
4	Harry Godfrey	Hawke's Bay	723	10
5	Reece MacDonald	Manawatū	657	9
6	Taha Kemara	Waikato	636	10
7	George Worboys	Manawatū	432	8
8	Lucas Cashmore	Bay of Plenty	424	8
9	Alex Harford	Auckland	377	5
10	Stephen Perofeta	Auckland	355	5

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Rivez Reihana	Northland	3	58	528	927	2.2
2	Reece MacDonald	Manawatū	3	33	575	657	3.5
3	Rico Simpson	Auckland	3	26	684	800	4.2
4	Harry Godfrey	Hawke's Bay	2	46	481	723	4.5
5	Taha Kemara	Waikato	3	50	379	636	4.8
6	Stephen Perofeta	Auckland	3	31	274	355	7.0
7	Cameron Millar	Otago	0	33	257	802	7.8
8	Lucas Cashmore	Bay of Plenty	1	27	218	424	8.8
9	George Worboys	Manawatū	1	23	183	432	9.2
10	D'Angelo Leuila	Waikato	1	31	202	308	9.5

Midfielders

51 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Dallas McLeod	Canterbury	7	11
2	Jone Rova	Canterbury	6	12
3	Tom Barham	North Harbour	6	11
4	Xavi Taele	Auckland	5	10
5	Austin Anderson	Waikato	4	11
6	Meihana Grindlay	Taranaki	4	10
7	Corey Evans	Northland	3	8
8	David Havili	Tasman	3	11
9	Divad Palu	Wellington	3	8
10	Gibson Popoali'i	Counties Manukau	3	8

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Jake Te Hiwi	Otago	111	11
2	Austin Anderson	Waikato	103	11
3	Meihana Grindlay	Taranaki	101	10
4	David Havili	Tasman	98	11
5	Jone Rova	Canterbury	87	12
6	Lukas Ripley	Hawke's Bay	86	11
7	Konrad Toleafoa	Southland	83	8
8	Xavi Taele	Auckland	81	10
9	Gibson Popoali'i	Counties Manukau	75	8
10	Tamiro Armstrong	Bay of Plenty	75	9

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Jone Rova	Canterbury	547	12
2	Tamiro Armstrong	Bay of Plenty	528	9
3	Meihana Grindlay	Taranaki	518	10
4	Lukas Ripley	Hawke's Bay	513	11
5	Tom Barham	North Harbour	497	11
6	Kurtis MacDonald	Canterbury	489	9
7	Austin Anderson	Waikato	486	11
8	Jake Te Hiwi	Otago	466	11
9	Kyle Brown	Manawatū	459	8
10	Jae Broomfield	Otago	376	10

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Jone Rova	Canterbury	909	12
2	Jake Te Hiwi	Otago	880	11
3	Tom Barham	North Harbour	880	11
4	Austin Anderson	Waikato	843	11
5	Lukas Ripley	Hawke's Bay	813	11
6	Xavi Taele	Auckland	800	10
7	Dallas McLeod	Canterbury	782	11
8	Meihana Grindlay	Taranaki	780	10
9	Jae Broomfield	Otago	698	10
10	Tamiro Armstrong	Bay of Plenty	686	9

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Jone Rova	Canterbury	6	87	547	909	2.2
2	Austin Anderson	Waikato	4	103	486	843	4.5
3	Meihana Grindlay	Taranaki	4	101	518	780	5.0
4	Tom Barham	North Harbour	6	67	497	880	5.5
5	Lukas Ripley	Hawke's Bay	2	86	513	813	7.8
6	Xavi Taele	Auckland	5	81	305	800	8.0
7	Dallas McLeod	Canterbury	7	55	373	782	9.2
8	David Havili	Tasman	3	98	329	627	9.2
9	Jake Te Hiwi	Otago	1	111	466	880	9.8
10	Tamiro Armstrong	Bay of Plenty	2	75	528	686	11.0

Wings

72 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Kyren Taumoefolau	Tasman	19	11
2	Samuel Nemec-Vial	Otago	9	12
3	Kiniviliame Naholo	Taranaki	7	9
4	Rory Taylor	North Harbour	7	11
5	Waisake Salabiau	Waikato	7	9
6	Maloni Kunawave	Tasman	6	9
7	Israel Leota	North Harbour	5	4
8	James Ramm	Northland	5	7
9	Jona Nareki	Otago	5	10
10	Josh Gray	Counties Manukau	5	8

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Heremaia Murray	Northland	93	13
2	Brady Rush	Northland	82	10
3	Rory Taylor	North Harbour	79	11
4	Taniela Filimone	Manawatū	72	10
5	Vereniki Tikoisolomone	Taranaki	68	10
6	Nic Benn	Hawke's Bay	64	11
7	Chay Fihaki	Canterbury	63	11
8	John Tapueluelu	Manawatū	63	10
9	William Havili	Tasman	62	10
10	Nathan Salmon	Northland	59	12

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Kyren Taumoefolau	Tasman	1148	11
2	Rory Taylor	North Harbour	1056	11
3	Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens	Taranaki	1010	12
4	Chay Fihaki	Canterbury	746	11
5	Samuel Nemec-Vial	Otago	727	12
6	Kade Banks	North Harbour	720	8
7	Maloni Kunawave	Tasman	709	9
8	Cole Forbes	Bay of Plenty	648	9
9	Glen Vaihu	Southland	507	8
10	Drew Wild	Manawatū	485	9

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens	Taranaki	960	12
2	Heremaia Murray	Northland	946	13
3	Samuel Nemec-Vial	Otago	866	12
4	Kyren Taumoefolau	Tasman	852	11
5	Rory Taylor	North Harbour	839	11
6	Chay Fihaki	Canterbury	808	11
7	Brady Rush	Northland	780	10
8	Vereniki Tikoisolomone	Taranaki	778	10
9	Taniela Filimone	Manawatū	764	10
10	William Havili	Tasman	747	10

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Rory Taylor	North Harbour	7	79	1056	839	3.5
2	Kyren Taumoefolau	Tasman	19	52	1148	852	4.5
3	Samuel Nemec-Vial	Otago	9	41	727	866	8.8
4	Brady Rush	Northland	4	82	396	780	10.5
5	Heremaia Murray	Northland	4	93	383	946	10.8
6	Cole Forbes	Bay of Plenty	4	51	648	720	11.8
7	Chay Fihaki	Canterbury	2	63	746	808	12.2
8	Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens	Taranaki	4	35	1010	960	14.0
9	Vereniki Tikoisolomone	Taranaki	4	68	351	778	15.5
10	Kade Banks	North Harbour	5	38	720	640	16.0

Fullbacks

13 players appeared. Top ten in each measure:

Tries

#	Player	Team	Tries	Games
1	Adam Morrison	Counties Manukau	3	9
2	Isaac Hutchinson	Canterbury	3	6
3	Jordan Trainor	Northland	3	12
4	Tepaea Cook-Savage	Waikato	3	4
5	Zarn Sullivan	Hawke's Bay	3	10
6	Hunter Rice	North Harbour	2	7
7	Jimmy Taylor	Southland	2	7
8	Will Cole	Hawke's Bay	2	9
9	Cameron Burgess	Wellington	1	10
10	Cohen Norrie	Auckland	0	1

Tackles

#	Player	Team	Tackles	Games
1	Cameron Burgess	Wellington	38	10
2	Adam Morrison	Counties Manukau	31	9
3	Zarn Sullivan	Hawke's Bay	30	10
4	Jimmy Taylor	Southland	25	7
5	Isaac Hutchinson	Canterbury	22	6
6	Jordan Trainor	Northland	20	12
7	Will Cole	Hawke's Bay	20	9
8	Tepaea Cook-Savage	Waikato	19	4
9	Dallas Rata-Makene	Waikato	17	6
10	Hunter Rice	North Harbour	11	7

Metres run

#	Player	Team	Metres run	Games
1	Adam Morrison	Counties Manukau	761	9
2	Zarn Sullivan	Hawke's Bay	612	10
3	Jordan Trainor	Northland	462	12
4	Hunter Rice	North Harbour	449	7
5	Jimmy Taylor	Southland	364	7
6	Dallas Rata-Makene	Waikato	321	6
7	Isaac Hutchinson	Canterbury	254	6
8	Tepaea Cook-Savage	Waikato	231	4
9	Cameron Burgess	Wellington	226	10
10	Will Cole	Hawke's Bay	149	9

Minutes

#	Player	Team	Minutes	Games
1	Jordan Trainor	Northland	874	12
2	Adam Morrison	Counties Manukau	700	9
3	Zarn Sullivan	Hawke's Bay	664	10
4	Cameron Burgess	Wellington	651	10
5	Jimmy Taylor	Southland	510	7
6	Hunter Rice	North Harbour	428	7
7	Dallas Rata-Makene	Waikato	425	6
8	Will Cole	Hawke's Bay	369	9
9	Isaac Hutchinson	Canterbury	329	6
10	Tepaea Cook-Savage	Waikato	312	4

RUGBE combined rank (average of the four ranks, minimum 3 games)

#	Player	Team	Tries	Tackles	Metres	Minutes	Average rank
1	Adam Morrison	Counties Manukau	3	31	761	700	1.5
2	Jordan Trainor	Northland	3	20	462	874	3.2
3	Zarn Sullivan	Hawke's Bay	3	30	612	664	3.2
4	Jimmy Taylor	Southland	2	25	364	510	5.2
5	Cameron Burgess	Wellington	1	38	226	651	5.8
6	Isaac Hutchinson	Canterbury	3	22	254	329	5.8
7	Hunter Rice	North Harbour	2	11	449	428	6.5
8	Tepaea Cook-Savage	Waikato	3	19	231	312	7.5
9	Dallas Rata-Makene	Waikato	0	17	321	425	8.2
10	Will Cole	Hawke's Bay	2	20	149	369	8.2

Reading the tables

Minutes are the honest measure of who carried a province. Of the 514, only 56 played 700 minutes or more, and those names sit at the top of most of the combined ranks above. Tries favour the outside backs and the maul-finishing hookers; tackles favour the loose forwards and the locks; metres favour wings and fullbacks. The combined rank is where the positions meet their own kind: a prop is ranked against props, and a 130-tackle prop like Waikato's Mason Tupaea stands out as sharply among props as Taumoefolau does among wings.

The tackles and metres for the 46 finalists will be updated once the final is in Opta's season totals, and the tables re-run.

Every 2026 NPC player, ranked by position: tries, tackles, metres and minutes

How the rankings work

Props

Hookers

Locks

Loose forwards

Halfbacks

First five-eighths

Midfielders

Wings

Fullbacks

Reading the tables

🗳️ Which measure says most about a season?

Sources & further reading

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