Welcome to the new and improved Roker Report Power Rankings for the 2019-20 season.

We wanted to make the feature more accessible and interactive for fans to follow this year, and to do that we’ve implemented a points system that everyone can follow.

We’ll be releasing fortnightly ratings, based on player’s performances over that section of games. The scores are combined player ratings from Lads fans, Roker Report writers and the always controversial on-the-whistle ratings that go live after every game.

We’re taking five ratings per game and combining them - occasionally we may ask for more assessments on any one particular game and in that instance we’ll eliminate the lowest score every player received for that match.

Minutes played will act as a tiebreaker if any two players have the same score - failing that, we’ll use twitter polls and internal discussions to decide who goes higher up our totem pole.

Sunderland fans: @joeAStar, @1JonathanWalker, @aidanscott16, @eddieSAFCx and @markmason78 all contributed to this fortnight’s ratings, so give them a follow.

Look out for our Power Rankings every other Thursday.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Power Rankings

1: Mark McNulty (102 pts) - The clear champion, McNulty sat in second place on our leaderboard after a promising debut against Oxford United. The striker claimed the top spot after laying on Lynden Gooch’s crucial equaliser at Ipswich and maintained it by bagging a goal and assist in a man of the match showing versus Accrington Stanley.

2: Lynden Gooch (93 pts) - Despite being Sunderland’s only goalscorer through two league matches Gooch has only just managed to average above 6/10 in our rankings. The American’s performance at Oxford was divisive and few players received high marks at Ipswich. A solid showing at the Wham Stadium vaulted the American into second.

3: Chris Maguire (88 pts) - Given Sunderland’s early season struggles, two eye-catching performances off the bench and a respectable showing at Accrington is enough to put Maguire third.

4: Jordan Willis (87 pts) - A strong score against Accrington Stanley lifted Willis into the fourth spot. He received mainly 5’s for his first two matches, but a host of 7’s in the League Cup sees our new centre half slot in at fourth.

5: Aiden McGeady (86 pts) - Like Willis, McGeady hasn’t impressed our panel in the league. His ineffective performance at Ipswich and forgettable cameo against Oxford received low marks, but his match-winning impact off the bench at Accrington was enough to elevate the Republic of Ireland international into fifth.

6: Will Grigg (77 pts) - Grigg finds himself in the sixth spot, despite failing to impress our panel. By virtue of appearing in every game the Northern Ireland international has accrued more points than more impressive performers.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

7: Conor McLaughlin (72 pts) - McLaughlin, like Grigg, finds himself in the upper third of our totem pole due to the sheer fact he’s played in every game. Despite Grigg’s low rating with Sunderland fans, his international teammate’s score is even worse. Jack Ross deserves some blame for McLaughlin’s poor points total, the 28-year-old’s worst ratings came after Ross moved him to left-back at Portman Road.

8: George Dobson (61 pts) - Dobson is a victim of Sunderland’s depth at central midfield and squad rotation. After two matches Dobson and his midfield partner Dylan McGeouch were within touching distance of McNulty and the top spot. Dobson did play at Accrington, but not for long enough to earn ranking points.

9: Dylan McGeouch (61 pts) -The runaway leader after his man of the match performance against Oxford, McGeouch disappointed at Ipswich and didn’t play in the league cup, meaning he drops to ninth.

10: Luke O’Nien (57 pts) - O’Nien has come close to averaging a 6/10 score in Sunderland’s past two matches, but can’t overtake players in poorer form after being an unused sub in the league opener.

11; Jon McLaughlin (49 pts) - Amazingly the most integral member of Sunderland’s attempted promotion campaign last season, has a total score that averages out at less than a 5/10 rating per game for the first two matches of the new term.

12: Tom Flanagan (43 pts) - Yikes - Flanagan has played in two league matches and has an average rating of just above 4/10.

13: Max Power (37 pts) - The highest score for a player who was only ranked over one game, the question is, has Power convinced Ross to give him a starting spot in league matches?

14: Charlie Wyke (35 pts) - Impressed our panel in his goal-scoring return against Accrington.

15: Denver Hume (34 pts) - Hume’s brutal start to the season is summed up by the fact two players scored higher in one appearance, than the young left back did in two combined matches.

16: Lee Burge (31 pts) - A decent first match in goal for the Blacks Cats earns Burge 16th.

17: Alim Ozturk (30 pts) 18: Grant Leadbitter (28 pts) 19: Duncan Watmore (28 pts) 20: Elliot Embleton (26 pts) 21: Jack Baldwin (0 pts) 22: Ethan Robson (0pts) 23: Benji Kimpioka (0 pts) 24: Glenn Loovens (0 pts) 25: Bali Mumba (0 pts)