Dylan Edwards has refused to entertain talk about being a Dally M Medal contender and preferred to back Penrith teammate Isaah Yeo for the game’s top gong.
Since the first Dally M Medal was presented back in 1979, Greg Alexander remains the only Panthers player to win the award – but come Wednesday night Edwards and Yeo are right in the mix.
St George Illawarra’s Ben Hunt was the clubhouse leader before voting went behind closed doors at round 12, with Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes and Sydney Roosters skipper James Tedesco, who finished the year in outstanding form, including 60 tackle busts in his final eight games, the other key contenders.
But Edwards and Yeo played huge roles in ensuring the minor premiership was won with a couple of rounds remaining, and with Nathan Cleary injured at the start of the year and then suspended the final five weeks of the regular season, he’s out of the running.
Cleary will not even attend rugby league’s night of nights at Royal Randwick.
“I’m no chance,” Edwards told the Herald about his medal hopes.
Dally M winner? Penrith Panthers fullback Dylan EdwardsCredit:Janie Barrett
“I hope the skip does, I hope ‘Yeoy’ wins. I don’t think I’m a chance at all. You have Nicho Hynes, Ben Hunt, Yeoy, Tedesco, there are plenty of bloody good names before I get called up. That’s what I think.
“There are plenty of boys who could have won the Merv Cartwright Medal as well … Yeoy, ‘Fish’ [James Fisher-Harris], but I got lucky and jagged it.”
Edwards has been a powerhouse at the back and won the Merv Cartwright – Penrith’s top award – by a “landslide”, according to Yeo.
A man of few words, Edwards said it would be special if his name was read out on stage as the winner, and suggested he’d make the shortest acceptance speech in history.
“I’d be stoked if I won, but I don’t play to win individual awards – I play it to do what we’re trying to do Sunday, which is win that big one,” he said.
Cleary was another Edwards admirer who went into last year’s decider with a broken foot and limited preparation.
North Queensland’s Todd Payten and Cronulla’s Craig Fitzgibbon are expected to duke it out for coach-of-the-year honours, Jeremiah Nanai the rookie of the year winner, while Cleary’s ban will also create a vacancy for the halfback spot in the NRL team of the year.
Meanwhile, Yeo backed up Parramatta rival Shaun Lane’s claims about the need for the NRL to stop dragging out the collective bargaining agreement talks, with the new season just a month away.
Next season’s salary cap is still to be finalised with clubs holding off signing fringe players until they know how much they can spend.
“There’s been plenty of time to do it, there are blokes’ livelihoods on the line, it just feels like it’s been strung out too long,” Yeo said.
“There was ample time to get this started earlier. The RLPA have been really transparent with us, none of it looks unfair with what they want [from the CBA], it’s just taking way too long [with the NRL.”
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