Quincy Dodd and Will Kennedy took home the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 2026 Player of the Year Awards at Thursday\u2019s Porter Gallen presentation night.<\/p>\n
The duo accepted their medals at Doltone House Sylvania as more than 400 players, officials, sponsors and VIP guests celebrated another outstanding year.<\/p>\n
Other winners included Braydon Trindall (NRL Members Player of the Year), Ellie Johnston (NRLW Members Player of the Year), Jacinta Carter (NRLW Players’ Player), Niwhai Puru (Steve Rogers Rookie of the Year) and Madison Ashby (NRLW Rookie of the Year). Kennedy also took out the Tommy Bishop Players’ Player Award.<\/p>\n
He last claimed the club\u2019s top gong in 2021, a breakout year for Kennedy, who has since been one of the Sharks’ best.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old fullback played every game this season and has missed just one match in the last three years.<\/p>\n
After finishing second three years in a row in the NRL\u2019s most kick return metres stat, Cronulla\u2019s fullback cracked the top spot in 2026, along with his most try assists in a season (17) and 11 tries on top of that.<\/p>\n
Addin Fonua-Blake, Nicho Hynes, Braydon Trindall and Billy Burns were the other nominees, as Burns received the NRL Iron Man award alongside Kennedy for playing every game this season.<\/p>\n
Trindall\u2019s incredible season also earned him the Member\u2019s Player of the Year after he broke Hynes\u2019 record for most try assists in a season with 33.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Quincy Dodd got to live out another childhood dream; the lifelong Shark who grew up down the road from Ocean Protect Stadium won the club\u2019s Player of the Year award for the first time.<\/p>\n
The Indigenous All Stars captain and Cronulla vice-captain scored her most tries in an NRLW season, with 4, but also set up 3 and assisted 5-line breaks while leading the league in dummy half runs in the 10 games she played.<\/p>\n
The non-stop number 9 didn\u2019t shirk her work in defence either, with an incredible 94% tackle efficiency in a team that finished in the lower end of the ladder.<\/p>\n
Most impressive, though, was her return from a fractured arm after missing just one game, helping her beloved Sharks win their final two matches and avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.<\/p>\n
Cronulla\u2019s engine room again featured heavily; recent Blues Women\u2019s Award winner Ellie Johnston jagged the Member\u2019s Player of the Year, and young tearaway prop Jacinta Carter claimed the Players\u2019 Player.<\/p>\n
While Dodd\u2019s 2018 Tarsha Gale Cup partner in crime, Madison Ashby, returned to the club after an incredible Aussie 7s career, the versatile hooker, half or centre saw the NRLW Rookie of the Year award come her way.<\/p>\n
Niwhai Puru received Cronulla\u2019s NRL Rookie of the Year title after the 24-year-old half seamlessly slotted into the side when injuries hit, won the first four games of his NRL career before being thrust into the side\u2019s recent semi-final due to injury, and did himself, his family and the club proud.<\/p>\n
Cronulla\u2019s Jersey Flegg trophies were again dominated by the forwards in 2026; Prop Jai Davies was named the Gavin Miller Player of the Year, and U19s New South Wales lock Tom Dellow received the Greg Pierce Players’ Player award after standout efforts at the under-21 level.<\/p>\n
Captain Georgia Willey took home the NSW Women’s Premiership Player of the Year after playing every game this season and leading the team for tries, while young lock Leilani Ah Sam was named the NSW Women’s Premiership Players’ Player.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Full List of Porter Gallen Medal Award Winners<\/p>\n
Porter Gallen Medal and Pontifex Jewellers Player of the Year
Will Kennedy<\/p>\n
Tommy Bishop Players’ Player\u00a0
Will Kennedy<\/p>\n
Steve Rogers Rookie of the Year
Niwhai Puru<\/p>\n
Sharks Have Heart Community Award
Tom Hazelton<\/p>\n
NRL Members’ Player of the Year\u00a0
Braydon Trindall<\/p>\n
NRL Iron Men: Players who have played all 26 games this season
Will Kennedy and Billy Burns<\/p>\n
NRL Wellbeing and Education Excellence\u00a0
Billy Burns<\/p>\n
NRLW Player of the Year
Quincy Dodd<\/p>\n
NRLW Players’ Player\u00a0
Jacinta Carter<\/p>\n
NRLW Rookie of the Year\u00a0
Madison Ashby<\/p>\n
Sharks Have Heart Community Award\u00a0
Jada Taylor<\/p>\n
NRLW Members’ Player of the Year\u00a0
Ellie Johnston<\/p>\n
NRLW Wellbeing and Education Excellence\u00a0
Grace Lee-Weekes<\/p>\n
NSW Women’s Premiership Player of the Year
Georgia Willey<\/p>\n
NSW Women’s Premiership Players’ Player
Leilani Ah Sam<\/p>\n
NSW Women’s Premiership Wellbeing and Education Excellence
Georgia Willey<\/p>\n
Gavin Miller Player of the Year\u00a0
Jai Davies<\/p>\n
Greg Pierce Players’ Player\u00a0
Thomas Dellow<\/p>\n
Jersey Flegg Wellbeing and Education Excellence
Richard Whalebone<\/p>\n
Andrew Ettingshausen Club Person of the Year\u00a0
Luke Koutrodimos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quincy Dodd and Will Kennedy took home the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 2026 Player of the Year Awards at Thursday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-903892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903892","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=903892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}