NRL Dally M Awards 2023: All nominees, favourites and banned players revealed

Check out all the nominees, favourites and ineligible players revealed ahead of the 2023 Dally M Medal presentation night.

Could a one-week suspension after Round 8 deny Payne Haas the Dally M Medal? Picture NRL photos

Competition frontrunners Brisbane are facing a surprise Dally M blackout with suspension potentially robbing Payne Haas of the top gong. A mid-season ban ends Reece Walsh’s chance of capping off a dream year with a Dally M award while the misdemeanours have rocketed Shaun Johnson into favouritism.

A host of clubs including St George Illawarra, Canterbury, North Queensland and Parramatta do not have any players nominated for team positions while the Panthers naturally dominated the short-list with eight players. The Broncos have six players nominated as do the Warriors have five.

But the conjecture comes at the top of the leaderboard surrounding Brisbane superstar Haas.

Could a one-week suspension after Round 8 deny Payne Haas the Dally M Medal? Picture NRL photos

Haas sat three points clear of Nathan Cleary when the competition went behind closed doors at the end of round 12. However, the Broncos prop will be deducted six points for a round eight hip-drop which saw him miss one game.

That ban could come back to haunt him when the numbers are crunched at the annual awards ceremony on Wednesday night.

Penrith’s Dylan Edwards is also a chance despite sitting eight points behind Haas at the midway point. Teammate Nathan Cleary said Edwards’ late-season form could see him push for a podium finish.

“I would love to see Dylan (win it),” Cleary said. ”He deserves it to be honest.”

Haas’ suspension has made his history making quest even more difficult. A prop has never won the award and big men taking out the prize are few and far between. North Queensland’s Jason Taumalolo won it in 2016 but before that you’d have to go back to Gavin Miller in 1989 for a non-hooker forward to have walked away with the game’s highest individual honour.

The suspension could also rob Haas of a Dally M prop of the year award as he battles it out with the likes of Addin Fonua-Blake, James Fisher-Harris, Lindsay Collins, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Jake Trbojevic for one of two spots in the team of the year.

Walsh, who was just six points behind Haas, is ineligible for any award following his three-game ban for his abusive language directed at referee Chris Butler. That leaves Edwards, Kalyn Ponga and James Tedesco competing for the fullback of the year award.

Any player suspended for two or more games is immediately illegible. That sees the likes of Walsh, Scott Drinkwater, Jahrome Hughes, Jack Wighton, Joseph Suaalii, Tino Fa‘asuamaleaui and Corey Horsburgh all out of contention for any award.

Brisbane centres Kotoni Staggs and Herbie Farnworth will be pushing for a place in the team of the year, while Warriors coach Andrew Webster is the frontrunner to edge out Kevin Walters for the coach of the year award. Ivan Cleary is also another nominee.

Ezra Mam, Selwyn Cobbo, Patrick Carrigan are other potential positional awards for the Broncos.

Wests Tigers haven’t had much to celebrate in 2023, but rookie Jahream Bula is a leading contender for rookie of the year. Picture: NRL Photos

Mam is locked in a three-way battle alongside Cameron Munster and Cody Walker for five-eighth of the year.

Johnson is now firmly in the mix to take out the top prize. Cleary’s hamstring injury sidelined for too long to be in with a chance while the others towards the top including Walker, Harry Grant, Nicho Hynes, Latrell Mitchell and Ben Hunt all had mixed periods of form. Hynes and Hunt who went head-to-head for the award last year are not even short-listed in the positional stakes.

Wests Tigers have had little to celebrate this year however fullback Jahream Bula is a leading contender for rookie of the year. He is locked in a three-way battle with Will Warbrick and Sunia Turuva for the award.

The Tigers only other candidate for any award is captain Api Koroisau, who is in contention for hooker of the year.

The Titans, Raiders and Dolphins only have one player nominated; second-rowers David Fifita and Hudson Young and winger Jamayne Isaako.

HEADLINE MOMENTS OF THE YEAR

From the sublime to the ridiculously good, the 2023 NRL season has produced an abundance of showstopping moments.

At Wednesday night’s Dally M Medal Awards, the next recipient of the Peter Frilingos Headline Moment of the Year will be announced.

Named after famed The Daily Telegraph rugby league journalist ‘Chippy’ Frilingos, the award recognises an outstanding on-field moment.

Here are the nominees for the class of 2023.

Dolphins’ “phin-credible” Roosters boilover

Wayne Bennett produced another coaching miracle, inspiring the Dolphins to a 28-18 upset win against premiership favourites the Sydney Roosters in their NRL debut. Written off as wooden spoon favourites and rank outsiders against the Roosters, the Dolphins played like premiership heavyweights to kick off their NRL existence in emphatic fashion boilover victory on a warm Sunday afternoon at Suncorp Stadium.

Mitchell Moses-Nathan Cleary field-goal duel

Mitchell Moses celebrated his new Eels deal by coolly slotting the winner in Parramatta’s 17-16 golden-point victory over Penrith, in Round 4 moments after Panthers rival Nathan Cleary nailed one of the most remarkable two-point field goals, from 45m out, to level things up.

Lindsay Collins’ Origin I leap for glory

With five minutes remaining in Origin I, Queensland were a man down and leading by four points, when Maroons prop Lindsay Collins produced an AFL-style leap to outjump NSW fullback and Sydney Roosters teammate, James Tedesco, to set up Cameron Munster for the match-sealing victory in Adelaide, setting them up for another series win.

North Queensland’s 18k Origin gold

NSW won the battle but Queensland won the war as Townsville’s Queensland Country Bank Stadium set the record for the biggest crowd for a stand-alone women’s Origin game. NSW were victorious 18-14 but the Maroons claimed the shield courtesy of their 18-10 win in game one in Sydney.

Twal breaks 116-game try drought

Alex Twal snapped rugby league’s most celebrated try drought and sent fans into raptures at Campbelltown Stadium in Round 16 when he scored his first try in 116 NRL games. Melbourne’s 28-6 win and a four-try haul to Storm winger was almost lost in the joy that followed Twal’s maiden meat pie.

Dom Air takes off

Knights English winger Dominic Young somehow completed a ridiculous put down to score a remarkable try in Newcastle’s Round 27 victory over St George Illawarra. It was part of a season-best 10-game winning streak that captured the imaginations of fans as the Knights stormed into the finals, with Young claiming the Knights’ season try-scoring record from Timana Tahu and Akuila Uate.