NRL fans and commentators are demanding change to the Dally M coach of the year voting, after Craig Bellamy and Ivan Cleary weren’t among the finalists announced for the gong on Sunday. The NRL revealed the short-lists for the Dally M awards on Sunday, with the winners set to be announced on Wednesday night.
As well as unveiling the finalists for every position, rookie and captain of the year, they also announced that Ricky Stuart, Michael Maguire and Cameron Ciraldo are in the running to win coach of the year. And the fact Bellamy and Cleary were left off has gone down like a lead balloon.
Neither of Craig Bellamy or Ivan Cleary are in the running to win NRL coach of the year. Image: Getty
The Dally M coach of the year award only takes into account the regular season, because the voting period ends before the finals. The coaching gong is voted on a number of times throughout the year, rather than after every round.
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Stuart would have received plenty of votes for taking Canberra to the minor premiership, while Ciraldo had the Bulldogs leading the comp at the halfway stage. Maguire led the Broncos to a top-four finish in his first year at the club, after they missed the finals altogether in 2024.
But the fact that the Raiders and Bulldogs went out of the finals in straight-sets has exposed the farcical nature of the coaching award. Canberra and Canterbury finished the regular season in first and third, but crashed out of the finals with back-to-back losses in the first two weeks of finals.
Craig Bellamy and the Storm are into another NRL grand final, while Ivan Cleary got the Panthers to the finals after they were sitting last. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Ivan Cleary and Craig Bellamy not up for coach award
It means of the four teams that made the preliminary finals, only Maguire is in the running for coach of the year. Bellamy (Storm), Cleary (Panthers) and Craig Fitzgibbon (Sharks) haven’t got a look in, despite taking their teams to the final four.
Cleary has had a particularly remarkable year, lifting the Panthers off the canvas after they were dead-last after 12 rounds. Penrith are into a sixth-straight preliminary final, but the fact they were seventh in the regular season means Cleary wouldn’t have received many votes.
It means there’s a very real possibility that neither of the coaches in the grand final are up for the Dally M gong. Fans took to social media on Sunday to blast the “absolute joke” and “ridiculous” farce.
Calls for change after Ivan Cleary continually snubbed
It’s particularly galling for Cleary, who somehow hasn’t won a single coach of the year award during Penrith’s four-straight premierships. He did win the gong in 2020 when the Panthers lost in the grand final, but Bellamy (twice), Todd Payton (Cowboys) and Andrew Webster (Warriors) have won the last four coach of the year awards, despite the Panthers winning all four years.
Speaking last week, Panthers player Luke Garner said it was “baffling” that Cleary hasn’t received more recognition. “I don’t quite understand it,” he told AAP. “I don’t know who votes and what it’s based on.
“I don’t know how he has not won it the past four years in a row. Whenever you win the grand final and the coach doesn’t win it, it doesn’t make sense to me.”
Panthers legend Greg Alexander said on SEN radio: “It makes no sense giving the coach of the year award after 27 rounds. Because you haven’t really accomplished anything.” Andrew Voss added: “It is different from player. The coach’s job is the overall season, the coach has a job and the job goes 30 rounds.”