Penrith and NRL officials were left angry Monday night after The Daily Telegraph accidentally revealed Jack Wighton as the winner of the Dally M Medal Hours ahead of the official announcement
The mistake prompted ARL Commission Chairman Peter V’landys to open an investigation into the case, with Monday night’s ceremony likely the last time media will receive embargoed results
“I know mistakes do happen, but we’ll definitely do an investigation to see how it happened,” V’landys said. “We will investigate and make sure it never happens again, never, never «
Wighton took the medal with surprise, beating Clint Gutherson and frontrunner Nathan Cleary at the league’s highest individual honor
V’landys insists players were not aware of the winner after event organizers confiscated their phones after the result was accidentally posted and then reposted on social media by the Daily Telegraph readers Wighton said he didn’t know the outcome until the end, but the Herald understands that may not apply to all Fox Sports studios, with Ivan Cleary admitting he was aware of the results
“They took our phones, we didn’t know why,” said Wighton “We were all in the same boat and found out at the same time when we were supposed to find out It worked out well in the end I thought I was gone this last round I was happy to get to where I was before that Being named the winner left me speechless I was absolutely shocked and blown away I thought he [Cleary] would win «
Cleary and the Panthers, who are preparing for this Sunday’s grand final, learned of Wighton’s triumph ahead of the virtual ceremony to begin at Fox Sports’ Artarmon headquarters
« Good luck to the winner, he’s a deserving winner, but sitting there waiting for something that has already been announced is disappointing It wouldn’t worry Nathan He would have hoped to win it, but he didn’t done and now we continue and prepare for the grand final Good luck to the winner Nathan is only 22 years old, he will have plenty of time in his career to win it «
A screenshot of the Daily Telegraph website that spread on social media ahead of Monday night’s Dally M Awards
Sources within the NRL claim that the governing body was not only consistent with the story being published early, but also criticizing the awards night and its voting system being given that Fox Sports, owned by News Corp, is running the event LNR CEO Andrew Abdo declined to comment on Monday evening
The NRL asked Nathan and Ivan Cleary to attend the broadcast event, providing an exemption from the game’s strict biosecurity rules overnight
The Panthers have no problem with Cleary missing out on the main prize, but the downsides for their star half-back for such an important week have been noted
« We wish Jack the best, he deserves to win, » said Panthers president Dave O’Neill « It’s disappointing for our club that Nathan, in the busiest week of his career, had to travel from Penrith to Artarmon and sit there at Dally M knowing he won’t win
« From a club point of view, we’re disappointed Nathan had to find it out this way, but kudos to Jack Wighton We now have bigger fish to fry and that’s to go on and win a post of Prime Minister on Sunday «
In 2013, another newspaper owned by News Corp, The Australian, broke an embargo by releasing the Gold Logie winner before it was announced on Nine, forcing the awards to ban the embargoed results from the media in the years to come
Jack Wighton is the third Canberra player to win the Dally M Credit: Getty Images
Wighton was at the center of another awards controversy last year, winning the Clive Churchill medal for best player in the Grand Final on a losing team despite Roosters backing Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, has been privately informed that he will be the recipient
There was no bet on this year’s Dally M awards due to the 2019 scandal caused by suspicious bets on the Coach of the Year award
In this year’s standings, Cleary failed to score a single point in the resounding final round win over Canterbury, finishing with 24 points, two behind Wighton with 26 points, with Gutherson sharing them with 25 points.
Wighton was one of nine Raiders to rest from the final lap in a move that helped recharge his batteries but could potentially have deprived him of becoming the third Canberra player to win the Dally M, and the first since Laurie Daley in 1995
Another important talking point of the event, which took place virtually, will be whether Cleary was unlucky – and whether the voting system needs to be overhauled
Cleary’s teammate Jarome Luai finished the regular season in brilliant form and reportedly took votes away from Cleary He did well to move up the standings to 17 points
Surprisingly, the Ram-beating Raiders Josh Papalii, considered the best lead rower of the game – and who was added to the Dally M squad of the year alongside Penrith mainstay James Fisher-Harris – did well finished in hierarchical order
Cleary continually downplayed his chances due to the number of teammates getting up each week and blocking the votes
In brighter news for Penrith, Cleary was one of five Panthers players included in Team of the Year alongside Fisher-Harris, Isaah Yeo, Viliame Kikau and Stephen Crichton
Crichton was named Rookie of the Year by Harry Grant, the Wests Tigers hooker on loan
And Ivan Cleary withstood fierce competition from Sunday Storm counterpart Craig Bellamy – and even New Zealand Warriors interim coach Todd Payten, who continued to inspire nostalgic players to rally every week. – to win his second Coach of the Year award
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Dally M Awards, National Rugby League, Jack Wighton, Canberra Raiders, Nathan Cleary, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters
World News – AU – Wighton shocks Dally M winner as V’landys vows to investigate Daily Telegraph error
