FONUA-BLAKE CLAIMS 2024 TWL KINGZ CONTAINER CREW PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Elite front-rower Addin Fonua-Blake marked the last season of four-year stay with the Warriors by taking out the 2024 TWL Kingz Container Crew Player of the Year award, based on our weekly KCC-sponsored player ratings.
In what has shaped as a two-horse race for some time, AFB edged out Simon Mannering Medal winner Mitch Barnett for the gong by three points with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak a distant third.
Fashioned on now-defunct Rugby League Week‘s system of giving every player a rating out of 10 for every game – which Will Evans has been dishing out for each Warriors game since the start of 2018 – the TWL POTY gong goes to Warriors player with the most accumulated points at the end of the season (including finals matches). To give players that miss a few games with injury an opportunity to still vie for the honour, we’ve eliminated every player’s three lowest scores at the end of year (including matches missed).
Here’s how the leaderboard finished up.
KINGZ CONTAINER CREW 2023 TWL PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD FINAL LEADERBOARD
170 – Addin Fonua-Blake
167 – Mitch Barnett
139 – Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
128 – Dylan Walker
124 – Jackson Ford
120 – Wayde Egan
116.5 – Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
114.5 – Jazz Tevaga
114 – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
114 – Marcelo Montoya
100.5 – Shaun Johnson
Fonua-Blake and Barnett missed only one match, while Watene-Zeleniak missed two. Every other player was absent for at least three matches, meaning they used up their three lowest deducted scores on games they spent on the sidelines. With that in mind, the player ratings averages are a more accurate indication of how each Warrior performed across the campaign.
AFB finished just in front of Barnett on that score, too, with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Tohu Harris and Dylan Walker in a tight battle for third.
KINGZ CONTAINER CREW 2023 TWL PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD – HIGHEST AVERAGE SCORES (minimum 5 games)
7.39 – Addin Fonua-Blake
7.28 – Mitch Barnett
6.85 – Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
6.79 – Tohu Harris
6.74 – Dylan Walker
6.58 – Taine Tuaupiki
6.58 – Ali Leiataua
6.36 – Jazz Tevaga
6.33 – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
6.32 – Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
6.28 – Shaun Johnson
6.20 – Jackson Ford
6.13 – Kurt Capewell
6.13 – Te Maire Martin
6.08 – Rocco Berry
6.06 – Bunty Afoa
6.00 – Wayde Egan
Here’s a few more odds and ends to come out of the 2024 Kingz Container Crew Player Ratings:
Boasting the fourth- and fifth-highest averages, respectively, in 2023, Fonua-Blake’s (7.58) and Barnett’s (7.36) mean player ratings actually went down this season. Shaun Johnson claimed the award last year after averaging a record high 7.84 points per game.
The highest individual score recorded during 2024 was Wayde Egan’s 9.5 in Round 5 against South Sydney – the equal-highest score ever dished out by TWL. Shaun Johnson earned two scores of 9, in the same game against the Rabbitohs and in his last-ever match against Cronulla, while Mitch Barnett received the only other 9 rating for his performance in the golden point loss to Canterbury in Round 18.
AFB racked up 12 scores of 8 or 8.5 in 23 games, while Barnett’s breakout campaign included a run of eight consecutive games where he rated an 8 or higher.
In a somewhat erratic season, Watene-Zelezniak earned four scores of 8 or higher and four scores of 4 or lower.
Ed Kosi (4.79), Jacob Laban (5.14) and Freddy Lussick (5.21) had the lowest average scores of player who made five-plus appearances, though in the case of Laban and Lussick it should be noted they occasionally played low minutes off the bench.
The highest total team score for the Warriors was achieved in the Round 14 thrashing of the Cowboys in Townsville (126.5), narrowly ahead of the Round 5 rout of the Rabbitohs (126). The lowest aggregate team score, unsurprisingly, came from the 66-6 loss to the Titans in Round 16 (52), with the Round 9 loss in Newcastle next worst (80.5).
Fonua-Blake joined 2021 winner Jazz Tevaga as the only players to win the TWL award without also collecting the Simon Mannering Medal.
The post FONUA-BLAKE CLAIMS 2024 TWL KINGZ CONTAINER CREW PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD appeared first on This Warriors Life.