RLPA must change flawed voting system, writes Paul Kent

THE RLPA held their annual awards night during the week but something needs to be done about the voting process if it is to hold any credibility, writes Paul Kent.

James Tedesco was awarded the RLPA Players Champion Award. Picture: Toby Zerna

GOOD to see the Rugby League Players Association held their annual awards night during the week but, for heaven’s sake, something needs to be done about the voting process.

The players have a troubled history with getting it wrong.

There used to be a Players’ Player awarded at the game’s official awards night, the Dally Ms, until the players began sabotaging their own awards by voting for joke winners — often players who had inadvertently reached cult status for all the wrong reasons.

Finally, when a particularly trouble-prone winger almost took the gong one year, the award was quietly cancelled to prevent the players embarrassing themselves.

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James Tedesco was awarded the RLPA Players Champion Award. Picture: Toby Zerna

Runners and black ties might have been the dress code this week but the RLPA awards will need a solid tinkering if they are to continue being regarded so highly by the players themselves.

The voting system, where players vote their opponents on a 3-2-1 basis after every game, is flawed.

The evidence is in the Players’ Dream Team made up of the highest polling players of the season.

Only one player from the top four sides, Melbourne captain Cameron Smith, made the team.

Nobody from the Roosters, Brisbane or Parramatta was considered good enough.

The problem is, the good teams share their votes from week to week while the best players in the struggling sides often stockpile for lack of options.

So nine of the 13 players in the Dream Team did not even make the finals.

Originally published as RLPA must change flawed voting system, writes Paul Kent