Dally M Medal

Dally M Medal
2011 Dally M Awards
Awarded for	The best and fairest player in the National Rugby League
Country	Australia
First awarded	1980
Currently held by	Billy Slater (Melbourne Storm)
Official website	http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/dally-m

The Dally M Medal is the premier individual award in the Australian rugby league competition, which is given to the player voted by sports commentators as the best and fairest in the competition for that year.

The award has existed since 1980, but has been the official award for the Player of the Year in the National Rugby League only since 1998; prior to 1998, the official Player of the Year, in both the New South Wales and the Brisbane Rugby Leagues, received the Rothmans Medal.

Voting

After each game, rugby league sports commentators vote to award three votes to the best player, two votes to the second-best player, and one vote to the third-best player. Additionally, a player will lose three votes for each week of suspension that he incurs during the season. The votes for each round are made public up to Round 16 (26-round season), then are kept secret; this allows the final winner to be kept secret until the Dally M Awards ceremony.

History

Rothmans Medal

Main article: Rothmans Medal

The Rothmans Medal was the first official player-of-the-year award to be established in rugby league in Australia. The medal was sponsored by Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc., a tobacco production company. There were two Rothmans Medals awarded each year: one for the best player in the New South Wales Rugby League, and one for the best player in the Brisbane Rugby League. The voting for the Rothmans Medal was the same basic format as the modern day Dally M, except that the votes were determined by the referees, rather than the media.

The two Rothmans Medals were first awarded in 1968, and were awarded each year until 1996. In 1997, the Rothmans Medal in New South Wales became known as the Provan-Summons medal, because all tobacco advertising and sponsorship was prohibited in Australia in 1992, under the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992; the medal then disappeared altogether in 1998 with the merger of the Australian Rugby League and the Australian Super League. The Queensland Rothmans Medal was also last awarded in 1996, as the Queensland Cup superseded the Brisbane Rugby League as Queensland's premier rugby league competition in 1997.

Dally M Medal

The Dally M Medal was named after Henry Herbert 'Dally' Messenger, who was instrumental in the establishment of rugby league football in Australia. The award was originally established in 1980 by The Daily Mirror newspaper in 1980. For many years, it was the second major individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League behind the Rothmans Medal. It was awarded each year between 1980 and 1996. With the Super League schism in 1997, the medal was not awarded.

Since the National Rugby League (NRL) was formed from the merger of the Australian Rugby League and the Australian Super League in 1998, the Dally M Medal has been the single official player-of-the-year award for that league, and the highest individual honour in Australian rugby league. The medal is awarded, usually by the Australian Prime Minister, at the annual Dally M Awards night where as well as honoring the player of the year, the NRL recognizes the premier player in each position, the best coach and the most outstanding rookie of the season.

The medal was notably not awarded in 2003, with the league cancelling the event during a pay dispute between the league and the players association which was going on at the time.^[1]

Venues & Broadcasters

Year	Broadcaster(s)	Venue
2003	No broadcaster	Not held
2004	Fox Sports	Sydney Town Hall
2005	Fox Sports	Sydney Town Hall
2006	Fox Sports	Sydney Town Hall
2007	Fox Sports	Sydney Town Hall
2008	Fox Sports	Hordern Pavilion
2009	Fox Sports	State Theatre
2010
2011		Royal Hall of Industries, The Entertainment Quarter

Dally M Medal winners

NSWRL and ARL (1980–1996)

Year	Winner	Position	Team
1980	Robert Laurie	Five-eighth	South Sydney
1981	Steve Rogers	Lock	Cronulla
1982	Ray Price	Lock	Parramatta
1983	Terry Lamb	Five-eighth	Western Suburbs
1984	Michael Potter	Fullback	Canterbury
1985	Greg Alexander	Halfback	Penrith
1986	Peter Sterling	Halfback	Parramatta
1987	Peter Sterling	Halfback	Parramatta
1988	Gavin Miller	Second-row	Cronulla
1989	Gavin Miller	Second-row	Cronulla
1990	Cliff Lyons	Five-eighth	Manly-Warringah
1991	Michael Potter	Fullback	St George
1992	Gary Freeman	Halfback	Eastern Suburbs
1993	Ricky Stuart	Halfback	Canberra
1994	Cliff Lyons	Five-eighth	Manly-Warringah
1995	Laurie Daley	Five-eighth	Canberra
1996	Allan Langer	Halfback	Brisbane

NRL (1998–present)

Year	Winner	Position	Team
1998	Andrew Johns	Halfback	Newcastle
1999	Andrew Johns	Halfback	Newcastle
2000	Trent Barrett	Five-eighth	St George-Illawarra
2001	Preston Campbell	Halfback, Fullback	Cronulla
2002	Andrew Johns	Halfback	Newcastle
2003	Craig Gower	Halfback	Penrith
2004	Danny Buderus	Hooker	Newcastle
2005	Johnathan Thurston	Halfback	North Queensland
2006	Cameron Smith	Hooker	Melbourne
2007	Johnathan Thurston	Halfback	North Queensland
2008	Matt Orford	Halfback	Manly-Warringah
2009	Jarryd Hayne	Fullback	Parramatta
2010	Todd Carney	Five-eighth, Fullback	Sydney
2011	Billy Slater	Fullback	Melbourne

Records

• Andrew Johns was the first player to win the Dally M Medal three times.

Peter Sterling, Gavin Miller, Cliff Lyons, Michael Potter and Jonathan Thurston have each won the Dally M Medal twice.

See also

• Dally M Awards
• Clive Churchill Medal
• Man of Steel Award

References

1. ^ "Accusations fly as NRL cancels Dally M awards". ABC News (Australia). 5 September 2003. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-09-04/accusations-fly-as-nrl-cancels-dally-m-awards/1474666. Retrieved 15 August 2011. 

External links

• Rothmans Medal at qrl.com.au
• Dally M Medla at hunterlink.net.au