Reece Walsh and Tom Trbojevic snubbed as NRL players name top three fullbacks of 2024

Tom Trbojevic, Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh have all been overlooked by their fellow peers, with James Tedesco, Dylan Edwards and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow voted the top three fullbacks of the 2024 season by their fellow NRL players. The Rugby League Players Association revealed on Wednesday night the short-lists for a number of positions for the RLPA team of the year.

The RLPA awards are different to the Dally Ms in that they're voted by the players. The RLPA will name its player of the year and 'dream team' next Monday, and some of the nominees are beginning to be revealed.

As revealed on Wednesday night, Tedesco, Edwards and Tabuai-Fidow are the three fullbacks in the running to make the 'dream team' at No.1. And while Tedesco and Edwards and understandable, the selection of Tabuai-Fidow is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Trbojevic, Ponga, Walsh and Scott Drinkwater could all make a case they had better years than Tabuai-Fidow, who was switched to the centres by Wayne Bennett for the last two games of the Dolphins' season. If you look purely at stats, Trbojevic appears the fullback who copped the biggest snub.

The Manly No.1 scored 17 tries in just 18 games in 2024 - the most of any fullback in the NRL. Tabuai-Fidow and Tedesco both had 15, while Walsh had 14 and Edwards and Drinkwater both had 10. Drinkwater had the most try assists with 26, while Tedesco had 22 and Trbojevic had 17.

In terms of line-breaks, Tedesco finished with 22, while Ponga had 17 and Trbojevic 15. Walsh had 13 in just 14 games played in 2024 due to injuries and State of Origin duty. Run metres is where Edwards makes his money, finishing with a whopping 4105m in 2024, while Tedesco was top of the pile with 4614. Drinkwater was also in the top three in that regard with 4028.

NRL players vote on Rugby League Players Association awards

As revealed by Yahoo Sport Australia earlier this month, the RLPA awards are peer-based, with delegates at each club nominating three teammates before a working group consisting current and former players adds a fourth player. The 68-man list is then open for all contracted NRL players to vote on, using a 3-2-1 system. Players are not allowed to vote for players from their own club.

The fact Tabuai-Fidow was voted in ahead of Walsh will be a crushing new blow to the Broncos fullback's ego, even though he had an injury-plagued year. Many believe the Maroons would have been better served with the Hammer at fullback in State of Origin, but Billy Slater stuck solid with Walsh in 2024.

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Tom Trbojevic unlikely to be available for Kangaroos selection

In terms of who will get the No.1 jersey for the Kangaroos at season's end, it's believed to be a three-horse race between Tedesco, Edwards and Ponga. Tabuai-Fidow will likely be somewhere else in the back-line, while Trbojevic revealed on Wednesday that his dodgy shoulder will likely rule him out of contention.

The Manly fullback will likely need surgery to repair a grade three AC injury, but has been pushing through the pain during the NRL finals. "I haven't really addressed that (playing for the Kangaroos) but I think it'd be a long shot," Trbojevic said.

"It's feeling better this week which is normal. We trained just before and it felt a lot better training so that's a way to quantify it. It's just a pain thing. The first game is going to be sore and then it gets better."