In the outrage over leaks and upsets, let’s not forget Jack Wighton, NRL’s best player

Canberra five-eighth Jack Wighton after receiving the Dally M award on Monday

Canberra five-eighth Jack Wighton woke up on Tuesday morning the best player in the NRL, but who knew?

Every newspaper or website Wighton looked at through bleary eyes, his Dally M medal dangling around his neck, was talking about the bloke who didn’t win. When he flicked on the TV or the radio, all he would have heard was that Nathan Cleary missed out. That’s probably all they were talking about when he went for a coffee at his local cafe.

And when those same websites and newspapers and radio and TV networks had finished bleating about Penrith halfback Cleary, the raging favourite, not winning the Dally M, they switched to outrage over the results being leaked ahead of the announcement.

Someone at The Daily Telegraph accidentally hit the wrong button at the wrong time and social media did the rest. And now, instead of celebrating one of the game’s great players, we are embroiled in outrage over a boilover result and a publishing stuff-up.

Let’s be clear, Wighton is a deserving winner of the Dally M. He got more votes than Nathan Cleary – in fact, so did Clint Gutherson, who finished second.

Cleary was in the mix heading into the final round but was beaten to the punch by Wighton, who finished with 26 points to become just the third Canberra player in history to the win the game’s most prestigious individual honour.

Cleary, who finished with 24 points, probably didn’t do himself any favours by missing a couple of rounds early in the season after being caught out lying to the NRL over a Tik Tok video that was a clear breach of the game’s COVID-19 rules.

But that is one of the keys to winning the Dally M. To win it, you need to be turning up every week, making a consistent contribution, collecting points. Players who miss matches as a result of poor behaviour can’t expect to be at the top of the list when they add up the points at the end of the season.

As for the fact that the result was leaked before it was announced, it was an error. Media organisations are given embargoed lists of winners late on the afternoon of the Dally Ms so they have a little extra time to prepare their coverage. The Telegraph, in particular, produces an eight-page special on the awards and needs a little head start.

In this case, a story written ahead of time – which would have been set to be published after the announcement – was accidentally published early.

Not a great look, but not the end of the world. The result wasn’t changed and the contenders, who all had to hand over their phones, were completely unaware.

Wighton has a great sporting story to tell. Two years ago he narrowly avoided going to jail for a shocking drunken rampage where he attacked five innocent victims — including headbutting two of them — and urinated in public.

It was a wake-up call for the talented youngster and under the guidance of coach Ricky Stuart he has turned his life around and taken on a leadership role with the Raiders.

And in a season in which Canberra finished fifth on the ladder and made it as far as a preliminary final, with never-say-die defence and bright attacking play, it was often Wighton who lifted his team when the going got tough.

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is apparently fuming about the Dally M leak and is organising an investigation. The outrage will no doubt continue as we look for someone to blame. And the focus, with Penrith playing in the grand final on Sunday, will stay on the player who didn’t win.

In the midst of it all, the bloke judged the best player in the NRL is in danger of being forgotten.