Top-ranked Turbo, Ponga, and standout halfbacks lead the charge Zero Tackle’s NRL MVP for Round 5.

Tom Trbojevic has climbed to the pinnacle of Zero Tackle’s MVP rankings following a formidable showing against the Penrith Panthers in Round 5.

In a surprising turn of events for Manly, our panel awarded Tom Trbojevic 16 votes, while Daly Cherry-Evans received unanimous recognition as the best on ground with a perfect score of 20.

Joining Cherry-Evans in achieving a flawless score of 20 were Kalyn Ponga, Jahrome Hughes, Matt Burton, and Matthew Timoko in Round 5.

In other matches, Shaun Johnson, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Isaiya Katoa, Jeremy Marshall-King, Scott Drinkwater, and Valentine Holmes were all singled out as best on ground by at least one judge.

Trbojevic’s 16 votes have propelled him to the top of the MVP standings, overtaking James Tedesco, who failed to garner any votes in the Sydney Roosters’ defeat against the Canterbury Bulldogs.

Tedesco now finds himself in fourth place, trailing by nine votes, and risks falling further behind as he recovers from concussion. Ponga and Drinkwater have moved into joint second place, while Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, another fullback, holds fifth position.

As a reminder of the voting process, each week, our panel—comprising Matt Clements (Zero Tackle founder), Dan Nichols, Ethan Lee Chalk (Zero Tackle writers), and myself as editor—casts votes for each game using a 5-4-3-2-1 scoring system.

The top player on the field receives five votes, followed by four for the next best, and so on. Hence, a player could theoretically accumulate 20 votes in a single game, although no one reached that level in the first half of Round 1.

Below are the complete voting results from Round 5.