The gala event of the year for iSelect Titans players, the annual presentation dinner with the Paul Broughton Medal announcement the highlight, will take place at Jupiters Hotel and Casino tomorrow night.
The medal is named in honour of foundation chairman and ageless rugby league figure Paul Broughton. And who the eighth winner(s) will be is very much open this season.
State of Origin forward David Taylor was a runaway leader at the halfway mark of the season after a purple patch of form that saw him selected for Queensland in games two and three.
However he missed two matches while in the Maroons camp and was struck by injury in the last month of the season, ensuring he missed five of the Titans’ last 13 games.
Albert Kelly was in hot form in the first eight rounds but injury struck him down, and Aidan Sezer was impressive outside him but also missed 11 games.
In the meantime Beau Falloon was in superb form in the back end of the season, Paul Carter had an outstanding rookie NRL season, fullback Will Zillman regained his spark after being inconvenienced by a hamstring injury for a good part of the year and Mark Minichiello, who missed only one match in 2014, was prominent and consistent.
And we could never discount the contributions of tireless Luke Bailey, co-captains Greg Bird (pictured with Broughton after winning last year's award) and Nate Myles, utility back David Mead and Brad Takairangi who was in fine form in the second half of the season particularly, and then there is courageous halfback Daniel Mortimer who joined the club mid-year.
Whoever wins the award, based on 3-2-1 polling from the coaching staff during the season, will join an elite group that includes Bailey, Laffranchi, Bird, Myles, Nathan Friend and Preston Campbell.
Other awards on the night include the Members Most Valuable Player award, rookie of the year (for the player who made his NRL debut in 2014), try of the year, The Preston Award named in honour of Campbell and given to the player who shows the greatest characteristics of the ultimate teammate or clubman, the National Youth League (under-20s) player of the year, players’ player and True Titans award, plus the club’s community award bestowed on the Titans player who was deemed most committed to the local community.
We will provide news of the award winners progressively on the Titans website and social media pages as they are announced throughout the evening.
Previous winners:
2013: Greg Bird
2012: Nate Myles
2011: Luke Bailey
2010: Luke Bailey
2009: Nathan Friend
2008: Preston Campbell
2007: Luke Bailey/Anthony Laffranchi
