The 2014 Willie M Medal: Round 26

 The final votes have been awarded, the polls are closed and in 2014 I am pleased to announce that we have joint winners of the Willie M Medal. Newcastle’s Joey Leilua and Canberra’s Josh McCrone finished the season on 19 votes each and have been honoured as the recipient’s in the award’s fifth year.

McCrone and Leilua displayed exceptional mediocrity across all of 2014. Leilua got off to a flyer, recording 14 votes by Round 9, before injury and a resurgent Knights side limited his scoring in the back half of the year. Unable to catch the ball, Leilua was also known for giving away dumb penalties and making awful defensive reads. McCrone had just three votes to Round 9 but surged home with four worst-on-ground performances, unhelped by Ricky Stuart’s decision to continually switch his position. Once again he proved he was incapable of first grade footy.

McCrone is the second Raider to win the award while Leilua is the first Knight.

Congratulations to both, the most consistently poor first graders to keep their spot.

Roll Call of Honour
2010: Chris Sandow (Sou)
2011: Blake Ferguson (Can)
2012: Chris Sandow (Par), Ben Roberts (Par), Tim Moltzen (Tig)
2013: Nathan Fien (Dra)
2014: Josh McCrone (Can), Joey Leilua (New)

Sydney Roosters v South Sydney
3-John Sutton (Sou)
2-Kirisome Auva’a (Sou)
1-Daniel Tupou (Roo)
Judge: Brett Oaten

Melbourne v Brisbane
3-Dale Copley (Bri)
2-Mahe Fonua (Mel)
1-Justin Hodges (Bri)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi

Cronulla v Wests
3-Tupou Sopoaga (Cro)
2-Cory Paterson (Tig)
1-Tinirau Arona (Cro)
Judge: Cliff Bingham

Canberra v Parramatta
3-Kaysa Pritchard (Par)
2-Will Hopoate (Par)
1-Jeremy Hawkins (Can)
Judge: Glen Saville

North Queensland v Manly
3-Daly Cherry-Evans (Man)
2-Justin Horo (Man)
1-Tariq Sims (Cow)
Judge: Cliff Bingham

Newcastle v St George Illawarra
3-Josh Dugan (Dra)
2-Benji Marshall (Dra)
1-Gareth Widdop (Dra)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi

Gold Coast v Canterbury
3-Josh Reynolds (Bul)
2-Tim Lafai (Bul)
1-William Zillman (GC)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi

Penrith v New Zealand
3-Konrad Hurrell (War)
2-Ngani Laumape (War)
1-Matt Robinson (Pen)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi

Final Leaderboard
19: Joey Leilua (New), Josh McCrone (Can)
17: Jonathan Wright (Cro)
16: James Maloney (Roo)
15: Blake Ayshford (Cro), Ben Barba (Bri), Mitch Brown (Bul)
14: Dale Copley (Bri)
13: Jamal Idris (Pen), Chris Lawrence (Tig), Bill Tupou (Can), Jack Wighton (Can), Benji Marshall (Dra)
12: Daniel Holdsworth (Cro), Chris Sandow (Par), Manu Vatuvei (War)
11: Todd Carney (Cro), Josh Dugan (Dra), David Mead (GC), Cory Paterson (Tig), Reece Robinson (Can)
10: Mahe Fonua (Mel), Peta Hiku (Man), Ben Hampton (Mel), Akuila Uate (New), Jarrod Mullen (New), William Zillman (GC), Ngani Laumape (War)