This iron Rooster has been the NRL's best forward in 2026

The end of a footy season isn't just for finals; it's also prime territory for end-of-season awards. Every team has them: the best and fairest for the star, the most improved for the biggest riser and the coach's award for the battler who came good.Other than the top prize, there's nothing better than winning best forward or best back, and if you were giving out a trophy for the former for the entire NRL in 2026 it would have to end up in the mighty hands of Naufahu Whyte.The iron Rooster enters Sunday's grand final after a season in which he's confirmed his place as one of rugby league's top players and certainly its premier front-rower of the year.Whyte will lead the Roosters from the front in Sunday's grand final. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer )Given Whyte leads all forwards in metres gained and post-contact metres averages over 16 runs per game, it's hard to find a better battering ram through the middle of the field.He's also fifth among all forwards for tackle busts and just outside the top 10 for offloads, proving he's far from an empty calories stat-chaser.Simply put, in all aspects of play, he's had the best year of any forward in the NRL and if he doesn't make the Dally M team of the year on Wednesday night we may as well call the whole thing off.Other forwards might be his equal, but this year none of them have been better.After two weeks on the leash, Whyte's performance in the preliminary final win over the Dolphins was his latest blunt-force masterpiece as he finished with 18 runs for 207 metres, more than all three opposition starting middles combined."All I remember is the start. I was getting ready to take the kick-off carry to start the game and the crowd was just roaring, the trumpets were playing and everything was just going off," Whyte said."I remember taking about the first carry and starting the game off and then I remember us winning it at the end and that is all I need. That's all that matters to me."More than once Whyte took more than one run per set, something that has become his trademark this season as he's established himself as one of the NRL's apex predators.If history is any guide, the 24-year-old will repeat the dose against Newcastle in Sunday's grand final, where he will once again be tasked with being the lead horse of the Roosters pack.A sensational work rate in attack has driven Whyte to new heights in 2026. (Getty Images: Matt Roberts )It's a job Whyte feels like he is built to do, which allows him to deliver the gifts he feels made to give."It's just what I want to do for my brothers and that's a superpower of mine, to carry that ball and I can create opportunities off the back of that for Sammy [Walker], Teddy [James Tedesco], Chez [Daly Cherry-Evans], all of those boys to really express themselves," he said."I just feel like every time I can get my hands on that ball I can create something special for them."I've got to make sure that's there for my teammates and brothers on that field every time I'm doing something, whether it's running the ball, tackling or whatever.Whyte was one of the Roosters' best against the Dolphins on Friday night. (Getty Images: Matt Roberts)"That's not gonna change coming into this week. If I need to take three, four carries a set, I'll do it."As long as it's to help my team and help them play off the back of it, then that's me."Whyte has made his name by running through whatever ends up in front of him but he's only been able to do so by running away from a year he never wants to revisit.The 24-year old made his NRL debut in 2021 but spent all of the following season outside the big league, failing to play a single first grade game.Hard lessons from his debut NRL year still fuel Whyte. (Getty Images: Brendon Thorne )Even now, years later and with a reputation as one of the best forwards in the league, that season in the wilderness still haunts him in the best way possible."I just had a sit back for myself personally, I got a bit too comfortable being in you know NRL. I thought I made it," Whyte said."It was a good reality check for myself and it was good that I got to start early on in my career because now I stick with that forever."I don't ever want to experience that feeling ever again. I stuck with those lessons, I took it on the chin and I bounced back."That's a big driving force for myself and motivation having that thought of what happened to me in 2022. I know for sure."I'm never gonna go back to that situation again."Sunday will mark Whyte's grand final debut but he is well acquainted with the lore the Roosters carry into the decider.Where some players downplay their club's recent history, Whyte revels in it. He admits to being a regular viewer of replays of the Tricolours' 2018 and 2019 grand final wins, taking them as a source of inspiration."I remember everything about them, I still watch YouTube videos of those games all the time," Whyte said."I've actually watched it lately and tried to envision myself in that moment and stuff. Seeing all their hard work pay off. It's something I've always wanted to experience."The boys still talk about it every now and then and now it's my time to hopefully enjoy a moment like that for myself."Of special attention is the opening exchanges of the 2018 decider, when the Roosters forwards stampeded over Melbourne in the opening quarter like a herd of wildebeest.The Roosters are searching for their first grand final win since 2018-19. (AAP: Dean Lewins)Whyte has too much respect for Newcastle to promise a repeat but it's an effort he knows his side has in them."They started pumping them straight away and after that you already knew Roosters were gonna dominate and win," Whyte said."That's a strength of ours as well."They [Newcastle] deserve the flowers for making grand final, but it's not gonna change anything for us, it doesn't matter if you make grand final or not — us, as a team, are going to come after you."The New Zealand international is too humble to ever say that he is the greatest part of that howling fury that may be unleashed but then again he doesn't need to.Whyte has reached a point where he can move in silence and violence because by now everyone knows what he's got.If he dominates on Sunday it won't be a surprise. When you're the best forward of the season you can't sneak up on anybody.