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I’ve never been a rugby league fan that is passionate about awards.
I of course take notice of who is awarded the Dally M, the Clive Churchill and the Wally Lewis Medals, but how these awards are determined has never been a topic that I’ve been that interested in discussing.
That was until last Wednesday night after State of Origin Game III when Billy Slater was awarded the Wally Lewis Medal for being the man of the 2018 series.
I thought this was an odd selection given Slater played only two out of three games, was not best on ground for any of those games and played in the team that lost the series.
Slater seemed to find the decision puzzling as well, judging by the look he had on his face when he went on stage to receive the Medal.
By this point, the internet had already started melting down and the fall out has continued for several days with the judging panel of Mal Meninga, Darren Lockyer and Laurie Daley coming out to defend the process by which Slater was awarded the Medal and their own integrity.
What has been highlighted since then is something many fans have known for some time – we need a better system for determining how these Medals are awarded.
Since Wednesday night, I have seen some really awful takes about the decision.
The first is that New South Wales won the series, so who really cares who wins the Wally Lewis Medal? This is utterly ridiculous and absolutely reduces the prestige of this award. If it matters so little who wins the Medal, then we should completely remove it.
If the purpose of the award is to reward a player for several years of Origin service, then it should be renamed.
These medals are an important part of our game and a player’s legacy and it’s disappointing to me that a worthy recipient missed out because of a flawed voting system. And then further that rugby league fans should ‘accept it’ because the Blues managed to win their first series since 2014.
Additionally, people seem to be confusing questioning whether Slater deserved this Medal with an attack on his career.
No one is attacking Slater here. He did not decide to award the Medal to himself.
Billy Slater of Queensland. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
It seems to me that the Wally Lewis Medal was awarded this year based on sentimentality. That is not what the award is for.
Confidently I can say that Slater was not the best player of the series. There were several others including James Tedesco and Damien Cook who were better across all three games.
Me saying this does not take away from Slater’s glittering rugby league career and his 31 games wearing the Maroons jersey.
Few would disagree with me saying that Slater is one of the best players I have ever had the pleasure of watching.
He may even be the best fullback I will ever get to see. You can acknowledge this while at the same time acknowledging that he was not player of this series.
The voting system used for the awarding of this Medal is a similar one used for the Dally M Medal and highlights a massive flaw in the system in that it has the potential to favour stand out players from teams that do not have many stand out players.
It also has the potential for judges to watch with their ‘ears’ and award points to players based on their performance during the season rather than in a particular game.
Consider the Blues during the series – in almost any of the three games you could have called Tedesco, Cook, Tom Trbojevic or Boyd Cordner best on ground.
Boyd Cordner of the Blues (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
There were other players who also could have received votes in one of the games. For Queensland, the stand outs were fewer meaning that for the Blues, votes were spread across a couple of players, while for Queensland they were all going to one player.
It’s a similar problem with the Dally M Medal where a 3-2-1 is awarded for each game. Consider a team like the Newcastle Knights this year who have one or two consistent stand-out players.
That means that every week, Kalyn Ponga is almost guaranteed at least a vote. Compare this to a team like the Melbourne Storm where votes would more likely be spread across a greater number of players.
There has to be a better system for determining who wins these awards. Perhaps a more intensive method whereby each player in a game is given a ranking out of ten and then tallying these numbers up at the end of the season or at the end of a series.
It’s clear that continuing to use the same processes as we use now will continue to see results which do not reflect the footy on the field and which demean the exceptional men after whom these awards are named after.