Dally M Awards

The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger.

As sports historian Ian Heads wrote – In 1940, when Truth newspaper profiled his (Dally's) career and life in a 14-part series, the paper called him “the greatest player of all time ….genius of Rugby football of either code”, continuing: ”around him as the keystone in the arch, the code of rugby league in Australia was built.” Harry Sunderland, a towering, entrepreneurial figure of the game wrote: “Without Messenger’s magical appeal….there would be no league.” It is as stark as that: without Dally there may well have been no rugby league at all.

The only other time the awards night has not been held was in 2003, following a dispute with the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA).

[citation needed] Gower was subsequently awarded the inaugural RLPA Players Player Medal in recognition of his 2003 NRL season exploits, and his central role in the dispute that saw the creation of the game's first overarching workplace agreement 8 months after the boycott.

The 2014 Dally M Medal was held on 29 September 2014[2] and was won jointly by Jarryd Hayne and Johnathan Thurston of the North Queensland Cowboys.