Ruan Sims embroiled in Dally M votes drama
THE credibility of the Dally M Awards has come under attack after Ruan Sims voted on a Round 7 game while she was playing in another women’s match at the same time.
NRL
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THE credibility of the NRL’s prestigious Dally M Awards has come under attack following revelations Jillaroos star Ruan Sims voted on the recent Parramatta-Manly Sea Eagles game while she was playing in another women’s match at the same time.
Despite Parramatta beating Manly 44-10, Sims gave Sea Eagles hooker Api Koroisau a point even though he missed nine tackles.
The NRL opened an investigation into the voting on Monday as a result of a social media backlash.
Sims on Monday afternoon stood down as a Dally M judge.
“There was a mistake on my part and I’m going to excuse myself from being a Dally M judge for the rest of the season,” Sims said.
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My role as a Dally M Judge pic.twitter.com/j0WQW9cPRA
— Ruan Sims (@ruan_sims) April 30, 2018
“It was a scheduling error that came about. I don’t want to bring the award integrity into question.
“It’s better if step away. I didn’t watch it live but I watched a replay. I’ve got nothing more to say.”
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said another Dally M judge would be brought in to review the Eels-Sea Eagles clash.
“We must maintain the integrity of the awards and we will ask one of the other judges on the panel to review the game and allocate Dally M points,” he said.
The NRL took over the running of the award from The Daily Telegraph last year.
On Sunday April 22, Sims was the Dally M judge for the Parramatta-Manly round seven game at 2pm at ANZ Stadium.
At the same time she was playing for Cronulla Caringbah against the Knights at Shark Park in the curtain raiser to the Sharks-Panthers NRL game.
Her own game finished around 3.15pm, as the match she was supposed to be judging on was into the second half.
Sims gave her three points to Mitchell Moses, two to Tim Mannah, who played off the bench, and one to Koroisau.
The former Jillaroos skipper has told the NRL she watched a replay before filing her votes.