The Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) is proud to announce the 2025 Players’ Dream Team – the best 14 players by their positions, as voted by NRL players.
The 2025 Players’ Dream Team:
Fullback: James Tedesco
Wingers: Mark Nawaqanitawase, Xavier Coates
Centres: Stephen Crichton, Herbie Farnworth
Five-Eighth: Ethan Strange
Halfback: Isaiya Katoa
Props: Payne Haas, Joseph Tapine
Hooker: Harry Grant
Second Rowers: Eliesa Katoa, Hudson Young
Lock: Erin Clark
Impact: Kurt Mann
It is a historic Players’ Dream Team in 2025, with James Tedesco becoming the first-ever player to be selected by the players five times. The fullback returns to the Players’ Dream Team following selections in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Payne Haas equals Cameron Munster’s four Dream Team selections, returning for the first time since 2023.
Tedesco and Haas’s experience is counterbalanced with an injection of youth, with boom playmakers Ethan
Strange and Isaiya Katoa making their Players’ Dream Team debuts. 2025 Players’ Rookie of the Year Mark Nawaqanitawase is joined by Xavier Coates, Hudson Young, Erin Clark and Kurt Mann as first-time picks by the players.
Harry Grant, Stephen Crichton and Herbie Farnworth become the first players to ever feature in three straight Dream Teams, cementing their status as three of the game’s most consistent and dominant players.
Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders both have the most Players’ Dream Team picks (3), followed by the Sydney Roosters, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Dolphins (2).
“On behalf of the RLPA, I would like to send a huge congratulations to the 14 incredible players who have been selected by the players in their Dream Team of 2025,” said Clint Newton OAM, CEO of the RLPA.
“This team of 14 players has shown week in, week out during the 2025 NRL season how influential they have been to their respective teams. To be selected in the season’s best team by the players you battle against every round is an impressive recognition of a player’s performances.
“The Players’ Dream Team is one of the most significant awards in rugby league because it is player voted, and this team – along with all NRL players – delivered for their clubs and fans to produce one of the most memorable and successful years in the game’s history.”
