Samoan forward Francis Manuleleua has taken a convincing lead in Zero Tackle’s Rugby League World Cup MVP after putting together a second strong performance for his nation.
The Newcastle second-rower, on debut for Samoa, has been among the best for Samoa across both of their opening wins against France and Papua New Guinea.
The efforts have given him a nine-vote lead ahead of Fijian forward Caleb Navale, who polled again against Australia, while Jarome Luai, Kurt Donoghoe and Tolutau Koula polled well to sit in the top five.
Koula was one of two perfect players during Week 2 alongside AJ Brimson, who set the tone for England in their crunching win over France.
Elsewhere, all of Chanel Harris-Tavita, Manuleleua, Jahrome Hughes, Jamayne Isaako, James Tedesco and Kurt Dongohoe were voted as player of the game by at least one judge.
All of that ultimately means that between Navle in second spot, and Nixon Putt down in 15th spot, there are only four votes separating, while 55 different players have already secured at least one vote during the tournaments.
As a reminder of how this works, our panel consisting of Zero Tackle founder Matt Clements, journalists Magdalena Murdoch and Daniel Nichols, and myself as editor, will cast votes on each game during the tournament on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, meaning a player can secure a maximum of 20 votes from each match.
Here are the votes for Week 2.
Top ten