Papali'i pulls ahead of Fisher-Harris in slugfest

Eels back-rower Isaiah Papal'i has taken the top spot on the VB Hard Earned leaderboard from James Fisher-Harris after outdoing the Panther in a head-to-head clash.

Fisher-Harris, who won the 2019 VB Hard Earned award and has set the pace for much of this season, prevailed in the grand scheme of things as Penrith beat Parramatta 13-12 at BlueBet Stadium last Friday.

But while Fisher-Harris produced a strong VB Hard Earned index score of 64 - exceeding the average for a starting prop of 57.1 - his numerical performance paled in comparison to Papali'i.

The much-improved Eel posted the highest score of the round with 108 - more than double the average for a second-rower (52.7).

Papali'i made 36 tackles and had 19 runs (gaining eight or more metres in nine of his carries) as well as busting nine tackles.

He also came up with four offloads, three decoys and two support runs; his only statistical blemish being three missed tackles.

Wests Tigers front-rower Alex Twal is ranked equal third on the overall leaderboard with Panthers lock Isaah Yeo, who remains prominent despite missing a couple of matches during the Origin period.

Meanwhile, Broncos forward Payne Haas (index score of 98) was another standout in round 16 - churning out 26 tackles and 18 carries to help his team stave off the Sharks at Suncorp Stadium.

Titans enforcer Moeaki Fotuaika (82) continued the trend of forwards proving hard to put down as he busted an impressive eight tackles.

And St George Illawarra halfback Ben Hunt delivered a true captain's knock in his side's golden-point win over the Warriors.

Hunt recorded a score of 80 - smashing the average for a No.7 (32.9) - with 30 tackles and 27 line engagements.