{"id":911137,"date":"2026-09-30T15:22:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T15:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911137\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T15:22:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T15:22:23","slug":"nathan-cleary-completes-nrl-boxset-with-his-first-dally-m-medal-nrl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911137\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary completes NRL boxset with his first Dally M medal | NRL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathan Cleary has completed rugby league\u2019s boxset of awards after the Penrith star was voted the runaway winner of his first Dally M Medal at the NRL\u2019s gala night.<\/p>\n

Unable to attend Wednesday\u2019s awards in Sydney after his horror ankle injury <\/a>in Penrith\u2019s preliminary-finals loss, Cleary finished 14 points clear of Cronulla half Braydon Trindall.<\/p>\n

Tamika Upton also claimed her third Dally M Medal<\/a> as NRLW player of the year, defending her crown from last year when the Brisbane fullback became the award\u2019s first multiple winner.<\/p>\n

Tamika Upton of the Broncos won the Dally M for best player in the NRLW. Photograph: Dave Hunt\/AAP<\/p>\n

Warriors mentor Andrew Webster pipped Justin Holbrook to be the NRL\u2019s coach of the year, while Canberra playmaker Ethan Sanders was rookie of the year.<\/p>\n

But the story of the night was Cleary, who left hospital on Wednesday after undergoing emergency surgery on his ankle.<\/p>\n

Despite being the best player of this decade, the Dally M had somehow evaded Cleary due to a run of injuries or suspensions.<\/p>\n

But he played 23 games this year, setting up 29 tries and acting as the chief architect of Penrith\u2019s run to the preliminary final.<\/p>\n

Cleary, 28, led the race for the majority of the year, polling 67 votes ahead of Trindall\u2019s 53 and fellow Panther Dylan Edwards on 52.<\/p>\n

Haumole Olakau\u2019atu finished fourth, while Herbie Farnworth and Scott Drinkwater tied for fifth at the gala night at Sydney\u2019s Barangaroo.<\/p>\n

Cleary had earlier this year claimed his maiden Wally Lewis Medal, silencing his critics by leading NSW to a 2-1 State of Origin series victory.<\/p>\n

He has also won two Clive Churchill Medals<\/a> for his grand final performances to go with his four premierships at Penrith.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Newcastle\u2019s magical run to the grand final was not reflected in the Dally M team of the year, with the Knights having no players in the side.<\/p>\n

Kalyn Ponga also missed out on captain of the year and Holbrook as coach, with all voting complete at the end of the regular season, when the Knights finished seventh.<\/p>\n

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Robert Toia and Naufahu Whyte were the two Sydney Roosters representatives named in the side.<\/p>\n

In the NRLW<\/a>, Upton\u2019s win came after she polled six points in the penultimate round and then one point in Round 11 to beat Wests Tigers\u2019 half, Raecene McGregor<\/p>\n

Newcastle winger, Mercedez Taulelei-Siala, was named rookie of the year, after a season when she scored 13 tries in 12 games. Gold Coast mentor, Karyn Murphy, won the coach\u2019s medal.<\/p>\n

The heart-touching moment of the night came when South Sydney\u2019s Jai Arrow was presented the Peter Frilingos headline moment and the Provan-Summons spirit of the game award for the way he has approached his battle with motor neurone disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NRL team of the year:<\/p>\n

Dylan Edwards, Thomas Jenkins, Herbie Farnworth, Robert Toia, Selwyn Cobbo, Braydon Trindall, Nathan Cleary, James Fisher-Harris, Wayde Egan, Naufahu Whyte, Haumole Olakau\u2019atu, Hamish Stewart, Eric Clark. Coach: Andrew Webster.<\/p>\n

NRLW team of the year:<\/p>\n

Tamika Upton, Julia Robinson, Isabelle Kelly, Jess Sergis, Brydie Parker, Teagan Levi, Raecene McGregor, Millie Elliott, Keeley Nizza, Sarah Togatuki, Evania Isa\u2019ako, Shaylee Bent, Olivia Kernick. Coach: Karyn Murphy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary has completed rugby league\u2019s boxset of awards after the Penrith star was voted the runaway winner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-911137","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\/911137","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=911137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}