NRL Team of the Week: A prodigal son, a bouncer and a gazelle steal the show

This week was all about team selections – no, not Origin, the prestigious Love Rugby League team of the week.

As ever, we’ve had to box clever with positions a little to get everyone in, and been forced to leave a few out.

Zac Lomax might feel hard done by, but thankfully, he can console himself with a place in Laurie Daley’s NSW squad.

Campbell Graham might wonder what more he could have done, but he can count himself as our travelling reserve, just like he will be for the Blues.

Perhaps the toughest will be Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who came back in style but isn’t good enough for LRL. He’s Kiwi too, so not even an Origin chance.

1. Kaeo Weekes (Raiders)

The Raiders fullback is, like several of his teammates, great when he’s great and awful when he’s awful. The speed, the elusiveness and the flair are all obvious, but come with a side of inconsistency and, in Weekes’ case, a clear deficiency under the high ball.

Sunday was all about the upside. Weekes directly set up two tries and had a hand in others, constantly chiming in on the edges, burning opponents and letting his teammates do the rest.

The Raiders have had far more good days than bad so far in 2025 – just like their 1.

2. Jason Saab (Manly)

There are few sights in rugby league more inevitable than Jason Saab swooping on a loose ball with 80m to run. Shut the gates, gazelle-like, goodbye. There’s no more graceful sprinter than Saab, who always looks like he’s speeding up until he’s eased off to score.

At the start, that was about the only thing Saab did, but he’s actively added to his yardage work with extra size and improved his aerial skills too. If he could stay on the field long enough, there’s no reason why the Manly winger couldn’t go for higher honours.

This weekend was the best of Saab: a steady burn of speed to turn an attacking mistake by the Cowboys into four points at the other end, then a steepling leap above his winger to ice the result.

3. Valentine Holmes (Dragons)

The Maroons centre has been a quiet achiever since moving to St George Illawarra.

While his team haven’t been great, Holmes has been generally decent and, such as this weekend against the Broncos, actively excellent.

He terrorised his opposite number, creating space on both sides of his man that others exploited.

And, unlike last week, Holmes brought his kicking boots too, with five from six after several one point defeats this year undermined by inaccuracy from the tee.

4. Matt Timoko (Raiders)

Matt Timoko has been a little quiet in 2025 despite the Raiders’ strong start to the year. Well, by his own high standards at least.

Last weekend was not a strong one for the Kiwi centre, who was rinsed several times by the Bulldogs, but he roared back against the Titans to produce his best showing of the season so far.

Two tries is always good, plus all the usual bustling, hard-to-put down carries from one of the NRL’s leading metre makers.

5. Xavier Savage (Raiders)

If Kaeo Weekes can blow hot and cold, then Xavier Savage is fire and ice. Last week was the shambolic edition, with dropped balls in yardage aplenty, but this week reminded everyone of why the hype was so big prior to coming into the NRL.

It’s often joked that Savage’s x-factor is having a name that starts with x, but this showing put paid to that. It was pace, it was evasiveness, it was power and it was a moment – in fact, those three qualities were all there in one of his three tries, where the winger raced infield to catch a kick at full pace before swerving through tacklers and carrying a few over the line for good measure.

6. Ezra Mam (Broncos)

Brisbane were rubbish on Sunday lunchtime, but their returning five eighth was not. Mam had plenty to prove in his first game since a ban for a drug-fuelled car crash, and set about making up for lost time immediately.

The 6 set up the first with an exceptional offload (admittedly, a forward pass missed by the officials) and then scored the next. He levelled Clint Gutherson with a tackle that was fortunate not to result in a turnover.

Mam managed three try assists in total, broke seven tackles, kicked well and, unlike the rest of his teammates, absolutely didn’t deserve to lose.

7. Matt Burton (Bulldogs)

In the absence of an outstanding halfback, this week’s team gets two five eighths. Matt Burton had to be in at some level, such was his showing in the comeback over the Roosters on Friday night.

The game will ultimately be remembered for Mark Nawaqanitawase’s incredible try, but far more germane to the result was the Easts’ winger’s total inability to deal with Burton’s kicking.

He struggled when it was the regular bomb and looked like he’d never seen a footy before when the Doggies’ half finally unleashed the NRL’s best torp.

Burton also scored his first try of the year, a typically strong carry that jagged across the line, found a gap and got the nose through. If anything, it’s a move he tries a little too much, but when you’ve got such a big body in the halves, using it does make sense.

8. Addin Fonua-Blake (Cronulla)

The Sharks big man retains his spot, adding a bash-up of the Storm to his revenge mission in Manly last time out.

AFB is a big, angry man in the front row at times, with a killer knack for finding the tryline. The Warriors built an attack around that, and with Cronulla, it has only continued.

Fonua-Blake also notched almost half of his metres in post-contact, taking his power to the Storm. On the back of it, the Sharks were able to win.

9. Api Koroisau (Tigers)

No player appears in this list on the losing side more often than Api Koroisau. The Fijian hooker is used to being the best player on the defeated team, but even he can’t have had many experiences like the loss to Souths on Sunday night.

Koroisau was magnificent, producing a long-range try that left a fullback as good as Latrell Mitchell standing aghast, then snuck his way in from dummy half too, as he has done many times before.

His guile, commitment and leadership are still the best. NSW should pick him. The Wests Tigers will be delighted that they didn’t.

10. Lipoi Hopoi (Bulldogs)

If the Bulldogs’ 2025 fairytale is about unsung heroes, then how about Lipoi Hopoi?

Just eight games into his first grade career, he still doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page – unsung, tick – but dominated in the middle on Friday night, playing extended minutes after Daniel Suluka-Fifita’s early concussion.

Hopoi was working as a bouncer a year and a half ago, playing third grade Ron Massey Cup and considering jacking the footy career in. Now, he’s starring at the top of the table.

11. Keaon Koloamatangi (Souths)

Our second positional shift of the week is more than merited. He might have played front row this week, but Keaon Koloamatangi is a second rower and his performance was too good to leave out.

Keaon punched out a full 80 in the middle, took a mammoth 27 carries for 250m and topped 50 tackles – insane numbers for a guy that, really, is only really filling in as a middle.

It was as if he took one look at Terrell May, the NRL’s Stakhanovite in chief, standing opposite him for the Tigers and committed to do even more than him. Laurie Daley, unfortunately, appears not to have been watching.

12. Ben Trbojevic (Manly)

It’s tough being the third Trbojevic, but Ben produced his best ever game in the NRL as Manly shocked the Cowboys in Townsville.

He needed to as well: brother Jake went down early with a head knock, forcing extra minutes to be found everywhere.

Burbo scored, grabbed two line break assists and broke a heap of tackles to power the Sea Eagles to a vital win.

Many Manly fans lamented the third Trbojevic, especially as he’s either compared to his brothers, who are full on champions, or his second row partner, Haumole Olakau’atu, arguably the best in the world in his position.

Instead, they might do better to just judge him on his merits. Against the Cowboys, there were plenty of them.

13. Erin Clark (Warriors)

Another returnee from last week is Erin Clark, the Warriors lock who is fast becoming vital to the way they play football.

This team has needed a big bodied ball-player to function – Tohu Harris without Tohu Harris – and in Clark, they have one of the best in 2025.

Not that many would have suggested it. Clark was pretty unspectacular at the Titans, but (like much of what happens on the Gold Coast) it seems like the worst of that was left there.

In NZ, he has been a revelation and, alongside a rejuvenated Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, was again one of their best on ground in a victory this weekend.