Rothmans Medal

Rothmans Medal
Awarded forThe best and fairest player in the New South Wales Rugby League and the Brisbane Rugby League
CountryAustralia
History
First award1968 (Rothmans Medal)
1997 (Provan-Summons Medal)
Final award1997

The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest in those competitions for the season, first awarded in 1968. With the establishment of the National Rugby League in 1998, the Rothmans Medal was replaced by the Dally M Medal as the official Player of the Year award.

History

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The Rothmans Medal was the first official player-of-the-year award to be established in rugby league in Australia. The medal was sponsored by Rothmans International, a tobacco production company. There were two Rothmans Medals awarded each year: one for the best player in the New South Wales Rugby League, and one for the best player in the Brisbane Rugby League.

The voting for the Rothmans Medal was done by the match-day referee. After each match, he awarded three votes to the best player, two votes to the second-best player, and one vote to the third-best player. This is the same basic format as the modern day Dally M, except that the votes are now determined by the media.

The two Rothmans Medals were first awarded in 1968, and were awarded each year until 1996. In 1997, the Rothmans Medal in New South Wales became known as the Provan-Summons medal, because all tobacco advertising and sponsorship was prohibited in Australia in 1992, under the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992; the medal then disappeared altogether in 1998 with the merger of the Australian Rugby League and the Australian Super League. The Queensland Rothmans Medal was also last awarded in 1996, as the Queensland Cup superseded the Brisbane Rugby League as Queensland's premier rugby league competition in 1997.

Rothmans Medal winners

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New South Wales

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Note: includes Provan-Summons Medal winner in 1997.

Year Winner Position Team
1968 Terry Hughes Halfback Cronulla
1969 Denis Pittard Five-eighth South Sydney
1970 Kevin Junee Halfback Eastern Suburbs
1971 Denis Pittard Five-eighth South Sydney
1972 Tommy Raudonikis Halfback Western Suburbs
1973 Ken Maddison Second-row Cronulla
1974 Graham Eadie Fullback Manly-Warringah
1975 Steve Rogers Centre Cronulla
1976 Ray Higgs Second-row Parramatta
1977 Mick Cronin Centre Parramatta
1978 Mick Cronin Centre Parramatta
1979 Ray Price Lock Parramatta
1980 Geoff Bugden Prop Newtown
1981 Kevin Hastings Halfback Eastern Suburbs
1982 Greg Brentnall Fullback Canterbury
1983 Michael Eden Five-eighth Eastern Suburbs
1984 Terry Lamb Five-eighth Canterbury
1985 Wayne Pearce Lock Balmain
1986 Mal Cochrane Hooker Manly-Warringah
1987 Peter Sterling Halfback Parramatta
1988 Barry Russell Halfback Cronulla
1989 Gavin Miller
Mark Sargent
Second-row
Prop
Cronulla
Newcastle
1990 Peter Sterling Halfback Parramatta
1991 Ewan McGrady Halfback, Fullback Canterbury
1992 Allan Langer Halfback Brisbane
1993 Ricky Stuart Halfback Canberra
1994 David Fairleigh Second-row North Sydney
1995 Paul Green Halfback Cronulla
1996 Jason Taylor Halfback North Sydney
1997 Brad Fittler Five-eighth Sydney Roosters

Queensland

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[1]

Year Winner Position Team
1968 Wayne Head Fullback Western Suburbs
1969 Johnny Brown Halfback Northern Suburbs
1970 Graeme Atherton Five-eighth Southern Suburbs
1971 Len Brunner Second-row Wynnum-Manly
1972 Marty Scanlan Five-eighth Valleys
1973 John Eales Centre Eastern Suburbs
1974 Jeff Fyfe Lock Eastern Suburbs
1975 Steve Calder Lock Northern Suburbs
1976 Darryl Brohman Prop Northern Suburbs
1977 Alan Currie Lock Eastern Suburbs
1978 Ian Pearce Fullback Redcliffe
1979 Neville Draper Lock Northern Suburbs
1980 Peter Lehman Five-eighth Brothers
1981 Chris Phelan Lock Southern Suburbs
1982 Tony Currie Fullback, Centre Western Suburbs
1983 Trevor Paterson Second-row Eastern Suburbs
1984 Cavill Heugh Prop Eastern Suburbs
1985 Ian French Second-row Wynnum-Manly
1986 Bryan Niebling
Scott Tronc
Second-row, Prop
Second-row, Prop
Redcliffe
Southern Suburbs
1987 Gene Miles Centre Wynnum-Manly
1988 Kevin Langer Halfback Western Suburbs
1989 Neil Tierney Prop Wynnum-Manly
1990 Trevor Benson Centre, Five-eighth Redcliffe
1991 Darryl Duncan Five-eighth Northern Suburbs
1992 Jason Hanrahan Prop Southern Suburbs
1993 Paul Green
Steve Mills
Halfback
Eastern Suburbs
Western Suburbs
1994 Steve Bryant Prop Brothers
1995 Graham Cotter Prop Redcliffe
1996 Alan Wieland Lock, Second-row Western Suburbs

References

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  1. ^ Pramberg, Bernie (3 November 2006). "Winding back the clock". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
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