Dally M Medal

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 12 (26-round season), then are kept secret; this allows the final winner to be kept secret until the Dally M Awards ceremony.

Rothmans Medal edit

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 The Queensland Rothmans Medal was also last awarded in 1996, as the Queensland Cup superseded the Brisbane Rugby League as Queensland's premier rugby league competition in 1997.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 edit

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 1979 by The Daily Mirror newspaper in 1979. 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 1979 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 honouring the player of the year, the NRL recognises 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 players association threatening to boycott the event during a pay dispute with the league. This backfired badly on the players, with the league responding by swiftly cancelling the event.^[1] Penrith's Craig Gower, who led by one vote entering the final round and was unofficially considered man of the match in the final round, is the player thought to have missed out on winning the award as a result.^[2]

The following players have won the Dally M Medal multiple times.

Medals	Player	Team	Seasons
4	Johnathan Thurston	North Queensland Cowboys	2005, 2007, 2014, 2015
3	Andrew Johns	Newcastle Knights	1998, 1999, 2002
2	Peter Sterling	Parramatta Eels	1986, 1987
	Gavin Miller	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	1988, 1989
	Michael Potter	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, St George Dragons	1984, 1991
	Cliff Lyons	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	1990, 1994
	Jarryd Hayne	Parramatta Eels	2009, 2014
	Cooper Cronk	Melbourne Storm	2013, 2016
	Cameron Smith	Melbourne Storm	2006, 2017

Medals	Team	Seasons
5	Parramatta Eels	1982, 1986, 1987, 2009, 2014
	North Queensland Cowboys	2005, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016
	Melbourne Storm	2006, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017
	Cronulla Sutherland Sharks	1981, 1988, 1989, 2001, 2022
	Newcastle Knights	1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2023
4	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	1990, 1994, 2008, 2021
3	Sydney Roosters	1992, 2010, 2019
	Canberra Raiders	1993, 1995, 2020
2	St George Dragons	1979, 1991
	Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs	1984, 2012
1	South Sydney Rabbitohs	1980
	Western Suburbs Magpies	1983
	Penrith Panthers	1985
	Brisbane Broncos	1996
	St George Illawarra Dragons	2000
	New Zealand Warriors	2018

• No award in 1997 and 2003
• Multiple winners in 2014 and 2016

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

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