Ken Irvine Medal - Alex Johnston:
https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2020/10/20/ken-irvine-medal---alex-johnston/
Dally M Medal 2020 - Every vote, every Round and every club’s top five:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...s/news-story/ec34e1593271aa5b3027bbdea84dc2f8
‘Like Hayne in 09’ but still not good enough - Snubbed Dally M team of the year:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...n/news-story/2480add31b68b23c7861191122b526b6
Dally M shocks and hard luck stories:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...k/news-story/d5cb96d0c58ee033c6a258317a9d6bd6
Gould, Gallen call for Dally M Awards overhaul amid Jack Wighton leak:
https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/dally-...ds-night/3e8e78da-818f-4b13-8337-5384151236e2
From Sporting News,
The real issue with the Dally M's after last night's blunder
Whilst all the focus is on the media blunder after Jack Wighton's Dally M victory, there is a major issue that has emerged from voting, with nearly one in five games voted on by players with direct connections to one of the clubs involved.
Fans and pundits had already inscribed N. Cleary into the Dally M award for 2020, however, the count came down to the final round with Cleary, Wighton and Gutherson all with legitimate claims on the medal.
In the end,
Jack Wighton would hang on despite being rested from the final round of the regular season, becoming just the third Raider to win the award.
It would've made for perfect TV viewing in a season full of twists and turns.
However, the majority of the audience was aware of the winner after a leak emerged from
The Daily Telegraph revealing Wighton as the medallist before the event had started.
This left ARLC commissioner Peter V'landys furious, who has already revealed that he will investigate the process of how the Dally M is awarded.
Many will point to the breach of the embargo period as the main area that needs to change, which is completely irrelevant to the main issue.
Let's break the fourth wall for a second: there are hundreds of stories, press conferences and awards that are embargoed every year and they serve an important purpose, primarily ensuring that papers/media can have stories ready to go for the audience to read when it is formally announced.
A leak happens less than 1 per cent of the time.
What should be the major issue that V'landys and the ARLC commission need to investigate is how the votes are awarded.
The current system involved a former player or coach generally from one of the broadcasting outlets (Fox, Nine, Triple M) on the day give their 3-2-1 for the game.
The issue that is seemingly overlooked is that we still allow these figures to vote on games involving their former team, which is nuts.
Using the information published by Fox League, there were 28 games in the NRL that saw former players give Dally M votes for the game despite having played/coached for one of the teams involved in the match.
That's almost one of five games.
Let me be clear, there is no accusation of deliberate bias from any of these players/coaches.
However, you can't deny there is a major issue when you have people like Johnathan Thurston, Andrew Johns and Nathan Hindmarsh voting on games involving the clubs where they are considered legends.
This goes further with the likes of Darren Lockyer, a member of the Broncos board, voting on Broncos games.
If this was a court case and they tried to serve on the jury, they wouldn't be allowed within 50 feet of the case such is the perceived bias.
The blunder with the leak has provided the perfect opportunity to change the system to ensure that this does not happen again and there can be no claims of bias.
Maybe it's time to make a player-voted system, similar to how the Players' Champion is awarded.
Or do it similar to how the Ballon D'or is done: have the captain, coach and CEO put their vote in for the season's best, with the only caveat being that they can't vote for their own team.
Whatever it is, we need to change the system in order to bring back the integrity of the biggest award in rugby league.
