BY STAFF WRITERS
Tonight we will announce the winner of the 2018 Arthur Beetson Medal along with several other awards.
Our annual end-of-year award also has a funny knack of predicting the Dally M winner which is announced a few weeks later. Since our award began in 2012, only once has our winner not also gone on to win the Dally M.
2017: Cameron Smith
2016: Johnathan Thurston, Jason Taumalolo, Cooper Cronk
2015: Johnathan Thurston
2014: Johnathan Thurston, Jarryd Hayne
2013: Greg Inglis
2012: Ben Barba
Here are some more quick facts:
- Johnathan Thurston won three consecutive Arthur Beetson Medals.
- The Arthur Beetson Medal has been previously known as the Ultimate Sports Memorabilia Medal, Handyman Magazine Medal and the Steele Sports Medal.
- Before being replaced by Cooper Cronk at the Roosters – half Mitchell Pearce won both Halfback of the Year and our Roosters Player of the Year in 2017.
- The first ‘Utility MVP’ award was given out in 2017 to Parramatta’s Clint Gutherson.
- Shaun Johnson led the 2016 count with two rounds to play but was overrun by Jason Taumalolo, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk.
- Cameron Smith’s 2017 win was the largest margin since the award began in 2012. Smith won by 7 votes from Mitchell Pearce.
- Jason Taumalolo has won 7 individual awards including an Arthur Beetson Medal, positional awards in the Team of the Year and the Cowboys Player of the Year.
