It will come as no surprise to most Warriors fans that the club has made only a modest impression on Dally M awards night during the club’s first 31 seasons.
That has gradually changed over the past decade, with the Warriors producing their first Dally M Medal winner in 2018, arguably the most unlucky runner-up in the gong’s history in 2023, and a host of positional awards.
TWL charts the history of the Warriors’ occasional wins and many near misses at the Dally Ms.
DALLY M PLAYER OF THE YEAR
A rabble for much of their first six seasons, the Auckland Warriors never had any genuine contenders for the media-voted Dally M Medal from 1995-2000 – though Stacey Jones was a top-20 finisher in the last-ever Rothmans Medal, the game’s official Player of the Year prize (and voted on by the game’s referees) from 1967-96.
Jones was at the forefront of the rebranded, rejuvenated New Zealand Warriors’ charge in the early-2000s and made a big impression at the Dally Ms. With 26 votes, the talismanic halfback finished third behind Cronulla’s Preston Campbell and Newcastle’s Andrew Johns (who was ineligible due to being suspended twice) after steering the Warriors to their maiden finals series in 2001.
‘The Little General’ finished sixth with 19 votes in the 2002 as Johns claimed a record third Dally M Medal. Despite the Warriors’ 11th-place finish with just 10 wins in 2005, the Super League-bound Jones performed admirably to accrue 18 Dally M votes and land equal-seventh.
Brent Webb gave it a solid shake in 2006 with 18 votes and a ninth-place showing in the overall count. Steve Price polled the second-most votes ever by a Warrior, 20, in 2007 to finish equal-ninth and Wade McKinnon, Webb’s fullback replacement, was just three votes back in equal-14th – a tally impacted by suspensions.
Simon Mannering netted a career-high 15 votes for a top-20 finish in 2008. Kevin Locke (18 votes) finished equal-11th and Feleti Mateo (17) 14th as the club finished sixth in 2011. Ben Matulino finished an admirable equal-17th with 15 votes in the Warriors’ dreadful 2012 campaign.
Shaun Johnson traditionally struggled to poll well in the Dally Ms and made the only genuine run of his first Warriors stint in 2013, coming equal-16th with 15 votes. Manu Vatuvei bagged a career-best 12 votes to make the top-25 in 2014.
Johnson was the Warriors’ leading vote-getter in 2015-16 – with modest tallies of eight and 10 respectively – before Roger Tuivasa-Sheck provided some light in a bleak 2017 campaign by finishing equal-12th with 17 votes.
Skipper Tuivasa-Sheck created history as the Warriors’ first Dally M Medal winner in a spellbinding 2018 campaign, heading the leaderboard with 29 votes – two ahead of Newcastle’s fullback sensation Kalyn Ponga – as the club snapped a seven-year finals drought.
As Tuivasa-Sheck finished a touching acceptance speech, teammates Issac Luke (who finished equal-eighth in the count with an impressive 18 votes) and Jazz Tevaga, Canberra’s Jordan Rapana and Brisbane’s Jamayne Isaako performed an emotion-charged haka in one of 2018’s most spine-tingling scenes.
‘RTS’ was no less inspirational for a 2019 Warriors outfit that languished in 13th at the end of the year, finishing equal-fifth with 22 votes. In 2021, despite Nathan Brown’s team managing just eight wins, Tuivasa-Sheck came outright sixth with 21 votes.
Johnson, who landed equal-fifth in the shortened 2020 season while at Cronulla, returned to the Warriors in 2022 and produced a career-best campaign in 2023 – the first year after the Dally M Medal’s revamp, with two judges handing out 3-2-1 votes for each game instead of one.
The veteran halfback polled 55 votes in total but was controversially pipped at the post by one vote by Ponga. Addin Fonua-Blake landed eighth with 44 votes.
The retired Johnson’s No.7 replacement, Luke Metcalf, led 2025 Dally M Medal voting when it went secret before succumbing to a season-ending knee injury with nine games to play.
Metcalf still managed to finish eighth overall with 40 votes.
Similarly, Jackson Ford was second when voting went under wraps in 2026 before a pec injury ended his regular season in Round 16. He still landed seventh overall with 39 votes.
DALLY M COACH OF THE YEAR
After steering the Warriors to a historic minor premiership in 2002, Daniel Anderson became the club’s first Dally M Coach of the Year.
Ivan Cleary was shortlisted behind winner Craig Bellamy in 2007 in the wake of the Warriors’ only other top-four finish in their first 28 seasons. Stephen Kearney was nominated in 2018, but the prize went to rookie Souths mentor Anthony Seibold.
Andrew Webster joined Anderson as the only Warriors gaffers to claim Coach of the Year honours, collecting the statuette at the end of the club’s unforgettable 2023 campaign.
After a record-breaking 2026 campaign, Webster joined Roy Masters, Bob Fulton, George Piggins, Tim Sheens, Wayne Bennett, Chris Anderson, Brian Smith, Craig Bellamy, Ivan Cleary and Ricky Stuart as two-time winners of the Coach of the Year gong.
DALLY M CAPTAIN OF THE YEAR
Steve Price was a worthy Dally M Captain of the Year recipient for the third time in his career in 2007, having won it in 2002 and ’04 while at the Bulldogs.
Ironically, Price’s maiden win in ’02 prevented Stacey Jones from potentially claiming the prize.
Simon Mannering was unlucky to miss out in 2010-11, to Braith Anasta (Roosters) and Cameron Smith (Storm) respectively.
Tuivasa-Sheck was hard done by to be overlooked in 2018 with Smith grabbing the award for the fourth time. But never has a Captain of the Year been more deserving of recognition than 2020, when ‘RTS’ received the honour at the end of the Warriors’ arduous, COVID-impacted season.
Tohu Harris was shortlisted in 2023, the award going to Brisbane’s Adam Reynolds.
James Fisher-Harris became the Warriors’ third Captain of the Year after leading the club to second on the NRL ladder in 2026.
DALLY M ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
No Warriors winners in this category and only a couple of genuine contenders.
Jones was in the mix for the Dally M Rookie of the Year prize in 1995, with Sharks winger Mat Rogers eventually carrying it off.
Lance Hohaia was edged out by countryman Matt Utai in 2002; the pair made their Kiwi Test debuts together at the end of that season.
There have been few candidates since, though James Maloney could easily have ousted Matt Gillett in 2010, Tui Lolohea and Solomone Kata rated a mention when Jack Bird won it in 2015, and Isaiah Papali’i was one of 2018’s rookie standouts as Test teammate Jamayne Isaako was recognised.
Reece Walsh’s explosion onto the NRL scene in 2021 wasn’t enough to wrest Rookie of the Year honours from Roosters halfback Sam Walker.
Leka Halasima was nominated at the end of his mind-blowing 2025 campaign, but the award went to Roosters centre Robert Toia.
DALLY M FULLBACK OF THE YEAR
Webb finished just one vote behind Dally M Fullback of the Year winner Clinton Schifcofske in 2006.
McKinnon was a standout in 2007 but an incredible class of custodians – with Matt Bowen, Brett Stewart and Billy Slater all polling more points – meant he was never a realistic chance of the positional award.
Tuivasa-Sheck collected the Fullback of the Year prize along with the Dally M Medal in 2018, while he was edged by Player of the Year winners James Tedesco in 2019 and Tom Trbojevic in 2021.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad’s stellar 2023 season wasn’t enough to get shortlisted; Tedesco, Ponga and Dylan Edwards were nominated instead.
DALLY M WINGER OF THE YEAR
Sean Hoppe created history by receiving the club’s first Dally M nod with the Winger of the Year statue in the Warriors’ fledgling 1995 campaign.
Francis Meli was a leading candidate for the gong in 2003, when the awards were eventually scrapped due to a dispute between the NRL and the RLPA.
It remains one of the great Dally M travesties, however, that Manu Vatuvei never had his name inscribed on a Winger of the Year trophy.
‘The Beast’ was tipped out by Canberra’s Colin Best (!) in 2008, Akuila Uate in 2010 (more understandable) and Semi Radradra (who polled less than half as many Dally M Medal points as Vatuvei) in 2014, his three best seasons.
David Fusitu’a won the inaugural Ken Irvine Medal as top tryscorer in 2018 but was bumped for Winger of the Year honours by Blake Ferguson.
Ken Maumalo was the last Dally M Winger of the Year in 2019 before a full Team of the Year (with two wingers) was named from 2020.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak grabbed a wing spot in the 2023 Team of the Year, while Tuivasa-Sheck was just one vote behind Team of the Year inclusion Xavier Coates in 2025.
DALLY M CENTRE OF THE YEAR
Few names spring to mind as having genuinely contended for Centre of the Year honours, aside from perhaps Clinton Toopi during his 2002-03 pomp, when many considered him the best centre in the world.
Nigel Vagana was a worthy winner in ’02, however, after topping the NRL’s tryscoring charts, while the awards were scrapped in ’03.
Interestingly, a centre has never won the Dally M Medal.
DALLY M FIVE-EIGHTH OF THE YEAR
James Maloney polled bewilderingly poorly during his vintage 2010-11 seasons at the Warriors, but would have had little chance against 2010 Player of the Year Todd Carney and 2011 Dally M Medal runner-up Benji Marshall.
Blake Green (2018) and Chanel Harris-Tavita (2025) produced the only real Warriors No.6 campaigns of note since.
DALLY M HALFBACK OF THE YEAR
Unfortunately for Jones, the years he made a run at the Dally M Medal, they were won by No.7s who also snared the positional gong: Preston Campbell (2001), Andrew Johns (2002) and Johnathan Thurston (2005).
Ditto for Johnson during his 2013 run, with Cooper Cronk the Player of the Year.
Johnson’s contentious runner-up finish in the 2023 Dally M Medal count was soothed somewhat by becoming the Warriors’ first Halfback of the Year winner.
Luke Metcalf was on track for the prize in 2025 before being cut down by injury – he ended up just five votes behind winner Nathan Cleary.
DALLY M PROP OF THE YEAR
Steve Price became just the third Warrior to win a positional Dally M when he was name the 2007 Prop of the Year.
Matulino finished with the same amount of votes as winner Sam Kasiano in 2012.
Addin Fonua-Blake became the first Warrior to earn back-to-back awards when he was named at prop in the Team of the Year in 2023-24.
James Fisher-Harris grabbed a place in the 2026 Team of the Year after a stellar season up front for the Warriors.
DALLY M HOOKER OF THE YEAR
PJ Marsh must have pushed Danny Buderus hard for the Hooker of the Year honour in 2002, but it’s not a position the Warriors otherwise boasted a real shining star for the next decade and a half.
Issac Luke and Damien Cook both polled 18 votes (equal-eighth) in the 2018 Dally M Medal count, but the nod went to Rabbitohs No.9 Cook.
Wayde Egan’s vintage 2023 season was not enough to get over Harry Grant for Hooker of the Year honours – the Storm rake was seventh in the Dally M Medal count – but he finally became the Warriors’ first player to claim the award after another superb season in 2026.
DALLY M SECOND-ROWER OF THE YEAR
Ali Lauitiiti was just the second Warrior to win a Dally M positional award after Hoppe, named the Second-rower of the Year at the end of a stellar 2002 season. He was the only player other than Nathan Hindmarsh to collect the gong between 2000 and ’06.
Manly’s Glenn Stewart won it in 2008 despite polling three fewer votes than Simon Mannering, who in a very strong 2014 season finished with the same amount of Medal votes as the Second-rower of the Year winner, Newcastle’s Beau Scott.
A lengthy injury stint left Tohu Harris with too much ground to make up on 2018 winner Josh Jackson, but he earned a place in the second-row in the 2020 Team of the Year.
DALLY M LOCK OF THE YEAR
Another position not traditionally graced by the game’s best at the Warriors, but Kevin Campion could easily have shaded Parramatta’s Daniel Wagon (2001) and Northern Eagles’ Steve Menzies (2002) during his two-year Auckland stint.
Micheal Luck, who wore the No.13 more than any other Warrior, was probably too unspectacular to be considered for Lock of the Year honours. Similarly, Mannering was competing with Jason Taumalolo and Paul Gallen by the time he switched to lock.
But Tohu Harris was desperately unlucky to miss out to Brisbane’s Pat Carrigan in 2023, before his impromptu retirement replacement, Erin Clark, created history as the Warriors’ first Lock of the Year in 2025.
Clark then joined champion players Ray Price, Wayne Pearce, Bradley Clyde, Jim Dymock, Paul Gallen, Jason Taumalolo and Isaah Yeo as back-to-back Lock of the Year winners in 2026.
DALLY M INTERCHANGE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Only awarded for the first time in 2017 and discontinued in 2020, Jazz Tevaga earned his place in Warriors Dally M history by being named Interchange Player of the Year in 2018.
KEN IRVINE MEDAL
David Fusitu’a was the inaugural recipient of the Ken Irvine Medal as the regular season’s top tryscorer.
PROVAN-SUMMONS MEDAL
Formerly a fan-voted category, the Provan-Summons Medal became a ‘Spirit of the Game’ award in 2019 and was awarded to the Warriors collectively – as opposed to an individual player – in 2020 after their stoic efforts in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
PETER FRILINGOS MEMORIAL HEADLINE MOMENT OF THE YEAR AWARD
This award is always a bit of a lottery, with events as disparate as four Burgess brothers playing together (2013) and the Blues winning Origin (2014) earning it.
But there have been few more popular winners of the award than Nathan Friend’s unforgettable upside-down, between-the-legs pass that led to a try in the Warriors’ win over the Storm in 2015.
DALLY M TACKLE OF THE YEAR
Taine Tuaupiki's memorable effort in mowing down Jason Saab in the final round of the 2026 regular season at Go Media Stadium received the nod for Tackle of the Year.
KEN STEPHEN MEDAL
The NRL’s esteemed community engagement award went to Ruben Wiki in 2007.
NRLW AWARDS
The Female Player of the Year was part of Dally M Medal night since 2014, with Warriors hooker Krystal Rota a nominee after the first NRLW season.
With votes handed out for games from 2020, as per the men’s Dally M Medal, Warriors centre Evania Pelite finished fourth that year.
Apii Nicholls was the highest-polling Warriors player in the club’s 2025 NRLW return, earning 13 votes to land outright 13th.
Winger Payton Takimoana created history by being named in the 2025 NRLW Team of the Year, while Ivana Lauitiiti joined dad Ali on the Dally M honours board by taking out the NRLW Tackle of the Year prize.
The Veronica White Medal – the women’s equivalent of the Ken Stephen Medal, awarded for community engagement – was won by Warriors players in its first two years: Honey Hireme (2019) and Georgia Hale (2020).
The Warriors received the NRLW's Provan-Summons Medal (spirit of rugby league award) for leading a haka for retiring Broncos legend Ali Brigginshaw at her farewell home game.
Thank you Will. I enjoyed being reminded of some of our great players from the past.
Nice work Will, that's some seriousy impressive research.