Craig Gower breaks silence on decision that cost him Dally M Medal
Craig Gower put the future of his rugby league peers ahead of his own ambitions - and it cost him the most prestigious individual award in the game. Now his 2003 teammates are demanding he finally get his belated Dally M medal celebration.
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Craig Gower can still clearly remember the bombshell phone call from RLPA boss Tony Butterfield in the days leading up to the 2003 Dally M Medal.
It would cost him the most prestigious individual award in rugby league.
“Buttsy called to ask how I felt about the boycott,” Gower said.
“It had been discussed among the boys for a while. I said to him, ‘if it’s the best thing for the players, I’m happy to go along with it’.
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“At that stage we were pumped up trying to win the comp, that’s really all that mattered.
“I didn’t think about 17 years later and how much I’d love to have it.”
Gower led the Dally M Medal count by one point from Roosters superstar Brad Fittler and Canberra Raiders fullback Clinton Schifcofske heading into the final round.
He then starred for Penrith in a 40-22 victory over arch rivals Parramatta that won him Channel 9’s man-of-the-match award.
Butterfield declined to comment when contacted by News Corp Australia. He is still bitter about News Corp Australia’s coverage of the story all those years ago.
The dispute was over a new collective bargaining agreement that included player wages, minimum salaries, intellectual property rights and insurance issues.
An agreement was reached later that year.
The players got what they wanted but Gower paid for it more than anyone else.
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” Gower said on Monday. “I had belief in what the RLPA was doing and it was important that the players had a voice in the game.
JUSTICE FOR GOWIE: The campaign to award Gower 2003 Dally M
“It was an award held in very high regard by the players, so I guess it was a big decision.
“But I look back and would like to think it was an important milestone for players’ rights.”
Life after football hasn’t been all that kind to Gower, who played 244 first grade games, 238 of them at the Panthers and the last six at the Knights.
After retiring, he started a fruit and vegetable business which went bust.
Now 42, he has a concrete pumping business but is keen to get back into rugby league in a coaching role.
The rule changes after COVID reignited his interest in the NRL.
“I got out of the game for a while,” he said. “It became boring and everyone was doing the same stuff. It was all the wrestle and how they were slowing down the play-the-ball that turned me off.
“The way the game’s changed this year reminds me of when we were playing. There’s not so much structure and it’s faster and more open. I’m loving it again.
“I’ve coached in the Sydney Shield competition and I’d like to look around for an NRL assistant role and see where it can take me.”
The conversation then switched to the Dally M award and the medal that should be on his mantelpiece alongside his 2003 premiership ring.
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“You look at the past players on the honour roll who have won it,” he said. “That says it all. It’s always been in the back of my mind that I could have had one of those. It would be a great honour.”
The stunning performances of Nathan Cleary and his old Penrith Panthers got him thinking back to 2003 and the decision to boycott the presentation night.
“There’s been all this talk about Nathan (Cleary) and him being a big chance of winning,” Gower said.
“I don’t think about it every day but, I must admit, it resonates with me.
“There are similarities. We won the minor premiership, too. We were both the halfbacks.
“Nathan deserves it. I think it’s out of him and Cameron (Smith).
“Plus Brandy (Greg Alexander), another Penrith halfback, has won it. It could have been all three of us.”
Former NRL boss David Gallop was noncommittal when asked about Gower’s situation.
“The NRL negotiating team which included club CEOs always said that there would be very sad consequences of such a huge call by the RLPA to boycott the night,” Gallop said.
“This was true for not only all the winners of awards, including the Dally M, but also because the awards night is an important celebration of the season for everyone in the game.
“Whether that can now be reversed all these years later is a difficult matter and for others to decide.”
Cleary: Panther should win Dally M — just not me
- Nick Walshaw
Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary does not expect to win the 2020 Dally M Medal – but insists Panthers legend, and neighbour, Craig Gower should finally be awarded his.
Outstanding for the Panthers this year, Cleary has backed a push by News Corp Australia to have Gower gifted the Dally M medal he selflessly gave up way back in 2003.
It comes as the 22-year-old firms to take out the award himself this year after leading his young Panthers, who have won 14 straight, to the minor premiership.
Yet despite his standout season, Cleary expects either Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith, Roosters No.6 Luke Keary or Parramatta favourite Clint Gutherson to win rugby league’s most prestigious award.
On the same night, the Panthers No.7 is also urging NRL officials to finally recognise Gower, who he revealed has been influential in not only his own stellar 2020 season, but that of the entire team.
Before COVID forced the Penrith squad into lockdown, Cleary said Gower had become a regular at Panthers Academy, where he spoke at length with the players about what it takes to make a premiership team.
Back in 2003, when Penrith last won the premiership, Gower agreed to boycott the Dally M medal as part of a push for improved wages and playing conditions.
Now 17 years on, the player who has moved into his Penrith No.7 jersey wants the retired Kangaroo rewarded for his sacrifice.
“I’d love to see Gowie get his medal now,” Cleary said. “And hopefully they can make it happen.
“Craig actually lives on the same street as mum and dad, so when I was living at home I used to see him a fair bit.
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“He’s a legend of a bloke too.
“Before COVID hit he was actually coming into the club a fair bit, coming into the gym, and it was really good to see him around.
“He also spoke to us as a group, just about what is needed in a winning team.
“And just listening to him, he’s such an inspirational bloke. I know a lot of the players here have taken what he said on-board.”
Cleary also praised Gower for the influence he had on him as a teenager, when living a few houses down.
“I always loved seeing him,” the NSW incumbent continued.
“You hear people talking about Gowie, he was so tough. Everyone says along with being skilful, how tough he was.
“I’m lucky to be so close to him.
“We have a yarn every time we see each other – about leadership and stuff like that.
“He has stories coming out of his arse – (laughs) some good, some bad — he’s a great guy to be around.”
While Cleary wants Gower awarded a Dally M this year, he doesn’t expect to win the most current version of the award himself.
Asked if he had done enough to secure rugby league’s top gong, Cleary replied: “I don’t reckon, no.
“I don’t think I’ll win it.”
So who does?
“Not sure but Cameron Smith has been good every week,” he said. “He will definitely be up there.
“Same with Clint Gutherson. And Luke Keary, he’s been killing it at the back end of the year.”
Elsewhere, Cleary suggested the impact of COVID on the NRL this year – including lower crowds, minimal fan interaction, fewer media opportunities – had actually helped his side’s unbeaten run.
“I reckon, definitely,” he said. “It’s been weird this year – sad as well – because you haven’t been able to interact with the fans.
“Obviously we love their support.
“But even with stuff like media, this is the first full media day we’ve had in ages.
“I think there is something to it.
“Come finals time there is a lot more hype around a lot more eyes on you which is usually something you have to deal with.That’s a bit different this year.”
‘WHY HAS IT TAKEN SO LONG?’: GIRDLER BACKS CALL FOR GOWIE’S GONG
—Fatima Kdouh
Penrith great Ryan Girdler wants this year’s grand final reunion with his Panthers teammates to double as former halfback Craig Gower’s belated Dally M medal celebration.
Every year the Panthers premiership winning outfit of 2003 come together to salute their achievement and this October’s reunion is shaping as the biggest one yet.
Not only could the Old Boys be toasting Nathan Cleary as this year’s winner but one of their own in Gower - if the playmaker is finally installed as the rightful winner of the 2003 Dally M Player of the Year.
“Absolutely it’s a great reason to get together. We try to have a reunion every year. Scott Sattler always organises the reunion usually the week before the grand final and we all get together. I know how much it would mean for Gowie and the rest of us to celebrate that with him. So hopefully it happens and we’ll find a way to celebrate it,” Girdler said.
The campaign to have Gower’s name etched into the record book also has support from the rugby league public.
Over 2,000 fans have voted in The Daily Telegraph’s poll asking ‘Should the NRL award Craig Gower the 2003 Dally M medal?’ with 67 per cent agreeing he should receive the prestigious accolade.
Back in 2003, players boycotted the awards ceremony and voting for the medal was suspended in the final round of the season when Gower was leading the count by one point ahead of Sydney Roosters superstar Brad Fittler and Canberra Raiders fullback Clinton.
The players were in a nasty dispute with the NRL over improved wages and conditions.
Girdler told The Daily Telegraph, the inability to amicably resolve the dispute should not diminish what Gower produced on the football field.
Gower’s form was so influential in season 2002, it helped guide the men from the foot of the mountains to their first title since 1991.
“It’s the biggest individual accolade in our game, he had an outstanding season and it would be great to find a way to give it to him. If they have the information there and he was the one that was going to win it then make it happen, I’m 100 per cent behind that,” Triple M NRL’s Girdler said.
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“In that year, he had a lot more support and help from the players around him but was one of the toughest little men I played with, he was super aggressive in defence, had a great kicking game and loved taking on the line. He was in the prime of his career in 2003.”
While Gower made little fuss about missing out on the medal 17 years ago, Girdler revealed the diminutive halfback jokes about the elusive medal to this day.
“Craig was always a team man, never one for individual accolades. As a player he never really mentioned it but ever since he’s retired, every time I see him he goes ‘mate, what about that Dally M they never gave me, how bad was that?’, Girder said with a laugh.
Newcastle legend Danny Buderus, the man who was crowned the Dally M winner 12 months after the infamous boycott, has also thrown his support behind the push to award Gower the coveted award.
“Why has it taken so long? It’s taken 17 years,” Buderus said.
“That year, it was disappointing not to see him stand in front of everyone, the fans and be crowned the best in the competition.
“He had a sensational year.
“He was such a fierce competitor, no one competed like Gowie that season. It would be great to see it happen … it would be a just reward.”
Originally published as Craig Gower breaks silence on decision that cost him Dally M Medal