Hello, welcome and good evening.
It’s one of the showpiece nights of the rugby league calendar, with the great and the good gathering at Randwick Racecourse for the Dally M Awards, which we are legally obliged to refer to as the NRL’s night of nights.
The big race is in the Men’s competition, with Shaun Johnson looking to cap an astounding late career surge by taking home the NRL player of the year gong.
If he does manage it, it will be a remarkable comeback and his biggest individual honour since being named Golden Boot all the way back in 2014.
His competition will come from last year’s winner, Nicho Hynes, and from Payne Haas, the Broncos proper who lead when the voting went dark midway through the year. Outside chances are Nathan Cleary, though injury might limit him, and Harry Grant, who started very strongly.
On the NRLW side, it is a wide open race – though Tamika Upton and Tarryn Aiken will go close – in the battle to succeed Raecene McGregor, who picked up both the Dally M and the Golden Boot in 2022.
There’ll be teams of the year, coaches, captains, moments and, of course, frocks upon frocks.
We’ll be there for all of it, so join us in the comments.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Why was BMoz at the Storm table…? :shocked:
The Barry
Roar Guru
I was wondering that too Do the voters think “I’m not wasting a vote”? Lots of competition for points at the Broncs but Walsh was brilliant. I guess he missed three weeks of points for his suspension, Broncs had byes in Rounds 19 and 25 and Walsh was rested in 27. I thought he’d have polled better though…
Fraser
Roar Rookie
It's hard to argue with Ponga getting all those votes though. He was unbelievable when he came back from injury. What's perplexing to me is the seeming lack of points to Walsh or Haas at the back end of the season. Did the voters just stop giving Walsh points because he was ineligible? I'm keen to see the final scores.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Thanks Mike !!!
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Wow. As a proud Broncos fan I'm stoked. Ezra Mam has one hell of a career ahead of him.
Mike Meehall Wood
Editor
Oh, and read all about the Dally M's in my on-the-envelope report, here!
Mike Meehall Wood
Editor
Well...wow. It's going to take some time to digest all that. What a fairytale for Ponga, who began the year out of position and off the back of some horror concussions. After copping so much over the last 18 months, he's proven what a great player he is. Hard not to feel for SJ, who was exceptional, but the Dally M moves in mysterious ways. Anyway, thanks for reading, commenting and enjoying the rugby league fashion parade with me. May you be serenaded to sleep by the soothing tones of Dale Finucane. Night!
The Barry
Roar Guru
So Ponga played 14 games after coming back from injury in round 12 Assuming he didn’t pick up any points in the early season games before he was injured, then he scored 56 points in 14 games, averaging four points per game. Pretty amazing…
The Barry
Roar Guru
Fair enough. I still had Grant at number 1…
Collie Flower
Roar Rookie
Thanks for the live blog, Mike. Well done to the contenders. Congratulations to the winners. Special mention to the dapper AFB...shone like a glorious sunflower :happy:
Redcap
Roar Guru
Of course, but I stand by my assessment of him as the sixth or seventh best acting half in '23.
Mike Meehall Wood
Editor
Second year in a row where the winner's date has been his mother. Pro tip for next year - get Ma involved.
Mike Meehall Wood
Editor
I genuinely can't believe that. Is it the voting system? Ponga only played 20 games and was HIAed out of one of them, meaning he took points in almost every other match. 6 per game has thrown up a major surprise. What a result for Newcastle, too, with winners in both NRL and NRLW. Nowt controversial about Upton, mind. She's great.
NQR
Roar Rookie
Well done Kalyn. The most dangerous player in the game with football in hand. Great season from Johnson.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Grant faded a little towards the end of the season but he was very good all year…
WithTheDawn
Roar Rookie
Happens when you have a team with more good players. AFB and CNK share points with SJ but Ponga 100% carried the Knights through the backend of that season.
Ben Lewis
Roar Pro
Ponga has more Dally M medals than Edwards or Gutherson, and I’d have either of those fullbacks in my team over Ponga any day of the week…
The Barry
Roar Guru
Congrats to Ponga… he was brilliant when he took the Knights on that mid to late season tear Feel for SJ… he was great all year and would have been my player of the year if I had to pick someone…
Nat
Roar Guru
Wow, on the bell~ Well done Ponga but very unlucky to Johnson.
Ben Lewis
Roar Pro
All this does is solidify that the Dally M process is utterly flawed. There is no way that Kalyn Ponga had a better season than Shaun Johnson; not even close…