Metre-eater Fifita best by mile Andrew Fifita sharing a laugh with Blues engine-room comrade James Tamou. Having taken over the mantle as the No.1 NRL player on form this season, Andrew Fifita is ready to fill the shoes of injured NSW captain Paul Gallen in Wednesday night's Origin series decider. It's a task Fifita has been doing with impressive regularity for Cronulla as Gallen has battled injuries and suspension, and he is now rated not only the best prop in the NRL but the best player. Sports Data's Contributor Value Rating system, which Blues coach Laurie Daley last Sunday used to justify the selection of winger James McManus, reveals Fifita has become the leading player in the NRL this season. Fleet of foot: NSW front-rower Andrew Fifita on the rampage for Cronulla. In doing so, he has surpassed new Blues skipper Robbie Farah, Queensland star Greg Inglis, South Sydney forward Sam Burgess and Maroons captain Cameron Smith. Gallen, who succumbed to the foot injury he sustained in Origin II and has been ruled out of the decider, is ranked sixth. Remarkably Fifita has done so from the interchange bench in most matches and he has the top CVR per minute as well as per game - indicating he is also the NRL's best impact player. Those statistics would come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Fifita's career as his CVR figures for Wests Tigers in the 2009 Under 20s competition and his debut NRL season the following year suggested he was a future star. Fifita's 2009 CVR per game - calculated from a player's workrate, errors and involvement in attack - was 406.11, which was his best until this season. In 2010, he played 22 NRL matches and had a CVR per minute of 9.60 for his average 27.8 minutes per game. As a comparison, only Rabbitohs forward George Burgess has a higher CVR per minute this season and Sonny Bill Williams' CVR per game is 417.40. The average CVR per game in the NRL this season is 227.47. However, Fifita's statistics have gone through the roof this year and he is by far the No.1 prop in the NRL after producing a season-high CVR per game of 874 and per minute of 13.87 against the Tigers last Friday night. "My job is just to impact," Fifita said. When I get on hopefully I can boost the team and give them that little bit of extra energy. If I can make a little quick tackle and get them on that front foot, then I know I've done my job. With Farah the No.2-ranked player in the NRL, the Blues will field a forward pack in better form than Queensland as Gallen's replacement Aaron Woods is the second-leading prop and Anthony Watmough also features in the top 10. NSW forward Trent Merrin is also ranked ahead of Queensland props Matt Scott and Sam Thaiday, while Blues behemoth James Tamou is 10th. Fifita's CVR per game in his two Origin appearances is 324.05, while his CVR per minute is 10.62 for the 61 minutes he has played so far in the series. "It doesn't help when you're playing against the best players from Queensland," Fifita said. It's tough but to play in a decider is a dream come true. I can't wait. Despite Gallen being ruled out, Daley has resisted the temptation to start Fifita next Wednesday night and he will again come off the interchange bench. By the time he got on the field in Origin II, the Blues trailed 14-0 and Fifita said it was important the home side started well at ANZ Stadium. "We got the start in game one, and they got the start in Queensland," he said. If it comes down to both teams getting that start it's going to be a cracker of a game. We just didn't take it to them, if we took it to them from the start it would've been good. That's where we got blown off the park and I was saying to 'Woodsy' it was a big welcoming how many sets they had. It wasn't stage fright, I loved getting booed and that. But we didn't even have the ball. If we start well we'll play well. Asked about his remarkable form this season, which has seen him produce double-figure CVR-per-minute performances in six of his past eight matches for the Sharks, Fifita said: "All I'll say is it's a work in progress." He seems to reserve his best for matches against Wests Tigers, averaging a CVR per game of 564.33 and CVR per minute of 11.68 in his three clashes with his former club. With Fifita scoring two tries and producing a try-saving tackle on winger David Nofoaluma in last Friday night's 36-22 win, Tigers fans must again be wondering how the club could have let him go at the end of 2011. "Each week I try and work on my own game, I find the negatives out in each game," Fifita said. If I can put one bit of the game [against the Tigers] in the memory bank it would be that tackle. That was the thing that came out well in that game that made me happy.