Dally M Awards

The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the best coach, the best captain, representative player of the year and the most outstanding rookie of the season. The awards are named in honour of former Australian rugby league great Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger.

The awards were introduced in 1980 by News Limited. Their journalists vote on the best performing players in each match on a 3, 2, 1 point(s) system. The scores of the voting are visible to the public and media up until Round 16 of the NRL season. In 1998, following the merger of the Super League and the Australian Rugby League (ARL), the awards became the official awards of the newly formed National Rugby League. Prior to 1998, the official award of the game was voted on by the referees and were known as the Rothmans Medal from 1968–1996 and the Nokia Provan-Summons Medal in 1997. Today the Provan-Summons Medal is for the fans' of "people's choice" player of the year.

Dally M Medal

The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the 'Player of the year' over the entire National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The award has existed since 1980, but has only been adopted as the official award for the Player of the Year in the NRL since 1998. Prior to that the official Player of the Year, in both the New South Wales and the Brisbane Rugby Leagues, received the Rothmans Medal whilst the Dally M Medal was awarded by the Daily Mirror newspaper.

Voting

After each game, rugby league sports commentators vote to award three votes to the best player, two votes to the second-best player, and one vote to the third-best player. Additionally, a player will lose three votes for each week of suspension that he incurs during the season. The votes for each round are made public up to Round 16 (26-round season), then are kept secret; this allows the final winner to be kept secret until the Dally M Awards ceremony.

History

Rothmans Medal

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, Benson & Hedges Inc., 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 the same basic format as the modern day Dally M, except that the votes were determined by the referees, rather than the media.

Cooper Cronk

Cooper Patrick Cronk (born 5 December 1983 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Melbourne Storm of the National Rugby League. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative halfback, he has played his entire NRL career to date at the Storm, with whom he won the 2007, 2009 and 2012 NRL Grand finals.

Early life

Cronk attended St. Laurence's College, South Brisbane from 1994–2001, where he represented the School's 1st XV rugby union side for a number of years. In 2001, he was selected to play rugby league for Queensland and Australian Schoolboys teams. He was then selected to play in the Queensland Cup's Norths Devils team. He quickly established himself in that competition and trained with the Storm Squad in 2003. He scored 37 tries for the Norths Devils in the Queensland Cup.

NRL career

2000s

Cronk made his debut for the Melbourne Storm in 2004, starting as a utility back coming off the bench and playing at five-eighth, hooker and lock.

Red carpet

A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.

History

The earliest known reference to walking a red carpet in literature is in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, written in 458 BC. When the title character returns from Troy, he is greeted by his vengeful wife Clytemnestra who offers him a red path to walk upon:

Agamemnon, knowing that only gods walk on such luxury, responds with trepidation:

Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting often show rugs and carpets, patterned but with red often the main background colour, laid on the steps to a throne, or on a dais where rulers or sacred figures are placed.

A red carpet was rolled out to a river to welcome the arrival of United States president James Monroe in 1821. In 1902, The New York Central Railroad used plush crimson carpets to direct people as they boarded their 20th Century Limited passenger train. This is believed to be the origin of the phrase "red-carpet treatment". Film premieres are often laid down with red carpets.

Jason Taumalolo

Vaai "Jason" Taumalolo (born 31 May 1993) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the North Queensland Cowboys of the National Rugby League. Taumalolo primarily plays at second-row and lock. Taumalolo is a New Zealand and Tonga international and a NRL All Stars representative. He was a member of the Cowboys' 2015 NRL premiership winning side.

Background

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Taumalolo is of Tongan descent. He grew up in Mangere and started playing rugby league at the age of 4 for the Papakura Sea Eagles and attended De La Salle College, Mangere East along with older brother Warner Taumalolo. At age 12, he moved to Townsville after being scouted by the North Queensland Cowboys while playing for a New Zealand under 16's touring team. Taumalolo attended Kirwan State High School and played his junior football for the Kirwan Bears and Townsville Brothers. He earned a scholarship with the Cowboys and would go on to represent the Queensland under 18's and Australian schoolboys at the age of 16.