Watch Australia A take on Japan XV this Saturday live and on-demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\nRob Valetini and Maya Stewart are the defending John Eales Medalists and Wallaroos Player of the Year, respectively.<\/p>\n
However, injury-affected years for the pair means there will be at least one new winner this evening.<\/p>\n
There are also the Shawn Mackay Awards, with the likes of Maddison Levi, Henry Hutchison and Henry Paterson out to add to their haul while Faith Nathan, Isabella Nasser and James Turner hunt for their first.<\/p>\n
FOLLOW BELOW FOR ALL THE ACTION FROM THE 2025 RUGBY AUSTRALIA AWARDS<\/p>\n
5:30 pm – Welcome<\/p>\n
Welcome to Rugby.com.au’s coverage of the 2025 Rugby Australia Awards<\/p>\n
Rugby’s superstars are just about to walk the red carpet, with the ceremony set to commence in just over an hour.<\/p>\n
Follow this blog to find out the award winners from the night or Rugby AU socials.<\/p>\n
As a reminder, here are the nominees for the major awards for the night, with the John Eales Medal shortlist to be announced later in the night.<\/p>\n
2025 RUGBY AUSTRALIA AWARDS FINALISTS<\/p>\n
John Eales Medal<\/p>\n
To be announced on the night<\/p>\n
Wallaroos Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Desiree Miller<\/p>\n
Cecilla Smith<\/p>\n
Tabua Tuinakauvadra<\/p>\n
Shawn Mackay Medal<\/p>\n
Men’s<\/p>\n
Henry Hutchinson<\/p>\n
Henry Paterson<\/p>\n
James Turner<\/p>\n
Women’s<\/p>\n
Maddison Levi<\/p>\n
Isabella Nasser<\/p>\n
Faith Nathan<\/p>\n
SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Langi Gleeson (NSW Waratahs)<\/p>\n
Tom Hooper (ACT Brumbies)<\/p>\n
Fraser McReight (Queensland Reds)<\/p>\n
Carlo Tizzano (Western Force)<\/p>\n
Tom Wright (ACT Brumbies)<\/p>\n
SMARTECH Super Rugby Women\u2019s Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Georgina Friedrichs (NSW Waratahs)<\/p>\n
Desiree Miller (NSW Waratahs)<\/p>\n
Tiarah Minns (QLD Reds)<\/p>\n
Santos Rookie of the Year<\/p>\n
Aden Ekanayake (Men’s 7s)<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Davis (Women’s 7s)<\/p>\n
Waiaria Ellis (Wallaroos)<\/p>\n
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (NSW Waratahs\/Wallabies)<\/p>\n
Junior Men\u2019s Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Aden Ekanayake (Men\u2019s 7s\/AUS U20s)<\/p>\n
Sid Harvey (Men\u2019s 7s\/AUS U20s)<\/p>\n
Eamon Doyle (AUS U20s)<\/p>\n
Junior Women\u2019s Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Davis (Women’s 7s)<\/p>\n
Caitlyn Halse (NSW Waratahs\/Wallaroos)<\/p>\n
Waiaria Ellis (NSW Waratahs\/Wallaroos)<\/p>\n
Cadbury Try of the Year<\/p>\n
1. Max Jorgensen v England, Spring Tour<\/p>\n
2. Charlotte Caslick v USA, PAC4<\/p>\n
3. Teddy Wilson v Chiefs, Super Rugby Pacific<\/p>\n
4. Georgina Friedrichs v Reds, Super Rugby Women\u2019s Grand Final<\/p>\n
5. Heidi Dennis v NZ, Perth 7s<\/p>\n
6. Sid Harvey v Fiji, Hong Kong 7s<\/p>\n
Defender of the Year<\/p>\n
Jayden Blake v Blitzboks, Perth 7s<\/p>\n
Maddison Levi v NZ, Singapore<\/p>\n
Ashley Marsters v Black Ferns, PAC4<\/p>\n
Joseph Aukuso-Suaalii v Hurricanes, Super Rugby Pacific<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rugby’s night of nights is here as the 2025 Rugby Australia Awards celebrate the best and brightest. It’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,133952,760,85],"class_list":["post-219596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-john-eales-medal","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}