The season didn’t quite the way our NRL and NRLW squads dreamed it would but it is time to close the books on their wonderful journeys in 2022. The Ken Thornett Medal celebrates their accomplishments alongside those of the NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg squads, nominating the players that went above and beyond for each team.
Isaiah Papali’i is the reigning Ken Thornett Medalist following his breakout 2021 campaign and has backed it up strongly this year. However the likes of Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Dylan Brown, Clinton Gutherson, Mitchell Moses and fellow edge forward Shaun Lane will all mount serious challenges for the big gong given their intergral roles in Parramatta’s push to the Grand Final.
Likewise in the NRLW, Simaima Taufa and Kennedy Cherrington were simply inspirational on a weekly basis but they were far from alone. Rookie sensation Gayle Broughton lit up the competition while a pair of breakout playmakers in Tayla Preston and Ashleigh Quinlan could also feature.
Sixties is the pointman on site tonight to bring you all of the coverage which I will in turn relay. While the bitterness of those grand final defeats obviously still lingers, tonight is a chance to toast the valiant efforts that got us so far this year so enjoy!
Award Recipients
Blue & Gold Army NRLW Award – Tiana Penitani
Blue & Gold Army NRL Award – Dylan Brown
Ray Price NRLW Community Award – Kennedy Cherrington
Ray Price NRL Community Award – Dylan Brown
Brett Kenny Jersey Flegg Coaches’ Award – Ethan Sanders
Steve Ella Jersey Flegg Player Of The Year – Ryan Jones
Geoff Gerard NSW Cup Coaches’ Award – Elie El Zakhem
Bob O’Reilly NSW Cup Player Of The Year – Ky Rodwell
Mick Cronin Club Person Of The Year – Laura Davidson
NRLW Coaches’ Award – Kennedy Cherrington
NRLW Players’ Player Award – Simaima Taufa
Eric Grothe Senior NRL Rookie Of The Year – Ky Rodwell
Jack Gibson NRL Coaches’ Award – Mitchell Moses
Nathan Hindmarsh NRL Players’ Player Award – Shaun Lane
NRLW Player(s) Of The Year – Kennedy Cherrington & Simaima Taufa
Ken Thornett Medal – Shaun Lane
NB – Top 3 in KTM
Shaun Lane – 26 points
Mitch Moses – 21
RCG – 19
Footnote:
The evening was set up with Yvonne Sampson as the MC and Zac Bailey conducting interviews on the couch, along with Vonnie. It was a format which allowed for personalities to shine. I think that was a good move as asking questions to players at a podium is very formal and some are uncomfortable like that.
It was a fun night, but also presented very professionally.
I’ll talk more about it in today’s podcast.
Sixties
What a sad day against the riff-raff. For me it was a sad evening, but while we lost the match, we won with character status against the opposition. Always hard playing against 14 in the opposition though.
This year has gone, as well as some ex eels players who I say fairwell and hope they all go well at their new clubs. I trust and hope they will go well but not against the eels team though.
Next year there should be new faces on the playing field also in the coaching box. I thought the 2 late tries showed that the players were able to lift in their plays, especially young JA. well done Jacob, only a short run but you put your body on the line and kept it well when you scored.
I believe that this game will take the club to the next level and should go one step higher and win next year. We do need to keep the key players in our squad, in Gutho, MM, & Dilbags. They should be captains but also work together in those roles.
It was also noticeable as to the many eels supporters who turned out on the post game day get together, the numbers of supporters really showed up their status compared to the other lot, we may not have won the game but we won the overall attendance by true supporters.
Despite what many may think I don’t believe we were that far overshadowed by the Riff, they played hard and tough, and with a fair degree of dirt that was overlooked by the refs, also the match officials.
I trust all associated with the eels of 2022 will in the main have many real & true supporters gathered for season 2023. Cheers to all and bring on 2023
Well said hussey. Im not so down that i cant rewatch this one. They were great-we were slightly off. We will get nuggets of gold from this and the new players coming in will want to be on board the lane train next year.
Bring it on!!!
Luke Winley
Luke, great to see Shaun honoured like this. Well deserved Medal winner.
Thank you, thank you. Oh! You mean that Shaun. I suppose he played ok this year. 🙂
🤣🤣🤣
Cheers Colin. I don’t need to say kept the faith to you because you never waver. As you say, bring on 2023.
Well done to Shaun Lane on winning the Ken Thornett Medal. Richly deserved!
Absolutely true. And his time on stage was very entertaining.
Well deserved to lane , slap in the face to those who bagged him in gradings , never hard to find fools !!
He had a brilliant season. Imagine if supporters picked teams or rosters. I’m adding myself in there in case anyone thinks I’m having a shot at others.
Not taking anything away from Shaun Lane but feel a bit let down for Mitch Moses.
Everyone knows he is our best player/game breaker and has been the most consistent he has ever been for any full season he has been at the club, born out by his Dally M ratings. I felt that he was the one player that tried his guts out consistently over the whole year (along with a couple of others) he was also a victim of the “expert” analysis again when when one in the Courier Mail in Brisbane said “Moses flopped yet again”….. I sometime’s think they read someone else commentary and don’t actually watch the game.
Anyway a great season in terms of achievement and whilst I thought we had a game to beat the Panthers, it was not to be.
I feel that we actually overachieved to make the GF when all our inconsistencies were taken into account but most definitely deserved making the GF off the back of beating the Cowboys at home to get there! That performance alone creates a lot of belief.
We definately can do better and I feel our recruitment is going ok if we can get the balance right on the bench.
Shaun Lane had a great year. Happy he is extending. Worthy medal recipient.
Getting into his prime years and as he has acknowledged, BA and the coaches have developed him as a player
Thanks TCT.
Great list of award winners!
Kennedy and Samaima are both something special.
Shaun Lane he’s really coming of age. He looked spent most of last year but has really kicked on.
2023 is looking promising.
Go Eels!!
Kennedy & Simaima both spoke so beautifully and from the heart last night. Gayle is a genuine personality. Lane’s interaction with Zac Bailey was hilarious
Dont you just love the word expert , some trumped up reporter with no credentials coaching or playing at basically any level let alone nrl and they critique under the word “expert “ , still that goes for plenty of us to , the biggest clowns though are the ex players who don’t have the courage or ability to coach but constantly tell those that have and can where their going wrong, arrogance and cowardice on a grand scale , still a lot of us fit that to i suppose , love to name a few experts in order of stupidity but just settle for JH a-clear winner !!!!!!
24 hours on and still nothing on parra website re ken thornett medal , typical slackness , media dept slower than juniors recruitment !
Feel a bit bad for RCG, probably our most consistent player this season. Hard for a prop to win these sorts of awards. Not taking anything away from Lane, he was great. But I feel like RCG was firing from round 1. Lane probably took 5-10 rounds to get into the groove?
Anyway well done to all winners.
I think you summed up the plight of middle forwards with all awards. They do the grunt work for minimal recognition. Though the club itself made the long term signing of Junior and Reg a priority.
Well done to all the recipients on awards night. It was good to see them put the disappointment of GF day behind them.
I thought that Shaun Lane was a welcome surprise package in the back end of the season. I thought he was a big part of our late surge to the GF.
There is an old saying in rugby league. You have to lose a GF before you win one. Never subscribed to it personally but I think now it may be right.
Let just say that I took the loss like an adult. I laid on the lounge and binged on true crime for 48 hours. I refused to watch any news or sports on Foxtel.
My friends at the coffee shop were surprisingly kind after what I had put them through all season with my Eels stories. I think secretly they were cheering for the Eels given all their teams were out of contention
Here is to a great 2023 and look forward to Sixties reports about the new season and new recruits.
Hi John. I’ve done similar! I have also avoided the sports shows and replays and binge watched Netflix. I took in the live action and large screen replays enough on grand final day to know how good Penrith were and where our defence fell short. That said, I have been to the team appearance and the KTMs as well as getting the content out, so I guess I haven’t avoided as much as I think I have.
Yep … I understand that he is protesting against the NRL but his protest will
only hurt the club. Very strange.
I’m hoping he’s booked in for some surgery or there is some other reason for his actions.