Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck heads a team of seven Vodafone Warriors personnel among the contenders for honours at the NRL’s annual Dally M Awards in Sydney on Wednesday night.
Earlier this month Tuivasa-Sheck won the inaugural Simon Mannering Medal after being named the club’s Vodafone NRL Player of the Year for the second season on end.
He is a finalist for three awards – the fullback of the year, the captain of the year and the overall Dally M Medal awarded to the player of the year. He was up with the leaders when voting went behind closed doors after round 12 and put together a series of outstanding displays in the second half of the Vodafone Warriors' campaign.
Wing David Fusitu’a will become the first Vodafone Warriors player to collect the top try-scorer award after finishing the regular season with 22 tries. He’s also one of the nominees for the winger of the year.
Tohu Harris (second rower) and Issac Luke (hooker) are finalists for their positions and Jazz Tevaga is a nominee for the interchange spot while Stephen Kearney is on the shortlist for coach of the year.
As well as the six men, Warriors dummy half Krystal Rota has been nominated for the Dally M Medal for the women’s player of the year. Rota and her Warriors team-mates finished their inaugural NRL women’s premiership programme with a loss to Brisbane last Friday night. The result ended the Warriors’ hopes of making the grand final, finishing third behind the Broncos and the Sydney Roosters.
Rota was a standout during the team’s three games. She was the competition’s top tackler with successive counts of 34, 35 and 38, a total of 107 tackles, 14 clear of the next best.
- SKY Sport 2 will have liver coverage of the Dally Ms from 10.30 tomorrow night
2018 TEAM OF THE YEAR | FINALISTS
Fullback | Valentine Holmes (Sharks), Kalyn Ponga (Knights), James Tedesco (Roosters), Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (Vodafone Warriors).
Winger | Josh Addo-Carr (Storm), Blake Ferguson (Roosters), David Fusitu'a (Vodafone Warriors), Corey Oates (Broncos), Jordan Rapana (Raiders).
Centre | Waqa Blake (Panthers), Joseph Leilua (Raiders), Esan Marsters (Wests Tigers), Latrell Mitchell (Roosters), Jesse Ramien (Sharks).
Five-eighth | Anthony Milford (Broncos), Matt Moylan (Sharks), Cameron Munster (Storm), Gareth Widdop (Dragons).
Halfback | Luke Brooks (Wests Tigers), Daly Cherry-Evans (Sea Eagles), Cooper Cronk (Roosters), Ash Taylor (Titans).
Prop | Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Storm), Andrew Fifita (Sharks), Martin Taupau (Sea Eagles), Paul Vaughan (Dragons).
Hooker | Damien Cook (Rabbitohs), Issac Luke (Vodafone Warriors), Cameron McInnes (Dragons), Cameron Smith (Storm).
Second rower | Tyson Frizell (Sharks), Tohu Harris (Vodafone Warriors), Josh Jackson (Bulldogs), Tariq Sims (Dragons).
Lock | Jai Arrow (Titans), Nathan Brown (Eels), Jason Taumalolo (Cowboys), Jake Trbojevic (Sea Eagles).
Interchange | Leeson Ah Mau (Dragons), Cameron Murray (Rabbitohs), Jazz Tevaga (Vodafone Warriors), Alex Twal (Wests Tigers), Aaron Woods (Sharks).
