Last season the game's elite athletes racked up 597,000 running metres across the 201 premiership games. Let's take a look at which 10 players ran more metres than anyone else.
2014 was a big year - an incredible season of Rugby League. The #NRL Annual Report will be available Friday 27 Feb. pic.twitter.com/5VnI6SZFdt
— NRL (@NRL) February 23, 2015In any team the biggest territory earners are either the hard-working big men in the middle who take hit-up after hit-up, set after set – or the fleet-footed outside backs who rack up plenty of kick returns and scoots from dummy half. The top 10 metre-eaters across the NRL in 2014 was a mix of both.
10. Corey Parker
3,306.8 metres from 22 games, average 150.3 metres per game
He missed a few games through Origin and injury, and was shuffled between prop and lock at the Broncos, but NRL Fantasy machine Corey Parker again charged his way into the top 10 yardage men in 2014.
9. George Burgess
3,360 metres from 23 games, average 146.1 metres per game
Despite taking his place in a star-studded Rabbitohs pack alongside all three of his brothers, barnstorming George Burgess got through a mountain of running last year.
8. Matthew Scott
3,455.2 metres from 20 games, average 172.8 metres per game
North Queensland's Scott played the fewest games of any man in the top 10 and had the best average, meaning he could well have topped this list had injury not interrupted his season. His absence with a shoulder problem was keenly felt by the Kangaroos in the end-of-year Four Nations.
7. Josh Mansour
3,499.3 metres from 22 games, average 159.1 metres per game
One of the busiest wingers in the NRL, Penrith's Mansour often plays like an extra forward, roaming infield to take hit-ups to help out his forward pack.
6. Jason Taumalolo
3,526.5 metres from 25 games, average 141.1 metres per game
Taumalolo's minutes skyrocketed in 2014 under the tutelage of Cowboys coach Paul Green. With his game reaching a new level, he has become one of the most damaging back-rowers in the competition.
5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
3,590.8 metres from 26 games, average 138.1 metres per game
Tuivasa-Sheck often seems to glide rather than run, with a blinding turn of pace and hyper-evasive footwork that often saw the Roosters winger find his way into open space.
4. Jesse Bromwich
3,608 metres from 24 games, average 150.3 metres per game
Bromwich is another player who took his game to a new level last year and became one of the most dominant props in the world in the process. The Storm enforcer finished off his massive year helping the Kiwis to a Four Nations title.
3. Daniel Vidot
3,798.3 metres from 23 games, average 165.1 metres per game
A quiet achiever in 2014, Broncos winger Vidot finished as the top metre-getter of any back in the competition through a consistently high work rate and plenty of kick returns.
2. James Graham
4,180.6 metres from 28 games, average 149.3 metres per game
The big British Bulldog benefited from playing more games than any other man on this list but when you factor in his high tackle count, the number of decoys he runs and passing skills, he is one of the hardest working players in the competition.
1. Sam Burgess
4,441.2 metres from 26 games, average 170.8 metres per game
Whether he was wearing No.10 or No.13, Burgess swept all before him in 2014 on the way to a Clive Churchill Medal in a Rabbitohs premiership win. His ferocious charges with ball in hand are one of the enduring memories of South Sydney's historic campaign.
More stats and information from the 2014 season will be available in the Annual Report to be released on NRL.com on Friday.
