One New Zealand Warriors interchange forward Tom Ale’s impressive performance against the Knights has seen him make the NRL's VB Hard Earned Index Team of the Week.
Making his sixth consecutive appearance of the season – the 13th of his career – the 24-year-old delivered the best numbers of any bench player in the round and also career highs.
Until the Newcastle match, Ale had played limited minutes in the opening five rounds against Newcastle (8), the Roosters (16), North Queensland (22), Canterbury Bankstown (15) and Cronulla Sutherland (25).
But on Sunday night he found himself playing a total of 46 minutes in two stints representing easily the biggest shift of his career so far.
From 14 runs he made 155 metres, the most of any forward from either side, while he also finished with 31 tackles, no misses and no errors.
His performance captured 76 points for a spot on the bench.
VB HARD EARNED TEAM OF THE WEEK
1 Dylan Edwards (Panthers) — 74 points
2 Phillip Sami (Titans) — 78 points
3 Dane Gagai (Knights) — 74 points
4 Campbell Graham (Rabbitohs) — 63 points
5 Brian To’o (Panthers) — 72 points
6 Cameron Munster (Storm) — 74 points
7 Nathan Cleary (Panthers) — 64 points
8 Payne Haas (Broncos) — 100 points
9 Api Koroisau (Wests Tigers) — 67 points
10 Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (Titans) — 80 points
11 David Fifita (Titans) — 92 points
12 Zac Hosking (Panthers) — 80 points
13 Ryan Matterson (Eels) — 99 points
Interchange:
14 Thomas Gilbert (Dolphins) — 81 points
15 Tom Ale (One New Zealand Warriors) — 76 points
16 Isaiah Papali’i (Wests Tigers) — 76 points
17 Christian Welch (Storm) — 75 points
