Nathan Cleary wins his first Dally M: why finals don’t count

Nathan Cleary won his first Dally M Medal at the NRL awards in Sydney on 30 September 2026, while Brisbane’s Tamika Upton claimed her third women’s medal. The winners are settled before the grand final because the awards count regular-season performances: finals cannot change the result.

Cleary finished on 67 points, 14 ahead of Cronulla’s Braydon Trindall, according to Australian Associated Press reporting published by the Guardian. The Penrith halfback missed the ceremony while recovering from emergency ankle surgery following his team’s preliminary-final defeat; AAP reported that he left hospital on awards day.

Who won the 2026 Dally M medals?

Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards finished third in the men’s count with 52 points, one behind Trindall. Haumole Olakau’atu placed fourth, while Herbie Farnworth and Scott Drinkwater shared fifth. AAP’s results report did not give final point totals for those last three players.

Cleary played 23 games and supplied 29 try assists during the year, AAP reported. The medal adds to four Penrith premierships and two Clive Churchill Medals. Earlier this year, he also collected his first Wally Lewis Medal as New South Wales won the State of Origin series 2–1.

How does Dally M voting work?

Under the NRL’s published voting process, two judges independently assess each regular-season match. Each judge gives three points to the player they consider best on the field, two to their second choice and one to their third. The NRL collects those votes and maintains the standings.

That gives an individual player a maximum of six points in one match: three from each judge. Six is not the total available across the game. Each judge distributes six points, so the pair awards 12 altogether, potentially dividing them between different players.

The governing body states the deciding rule directly: “The player who polls the highest number of votes over the regular season is crowned the winner of the Dally M Medal.” Its FAQ also says a tied medal count produces co-winners.

Do finals or State of Origin count?

No. The NRL’s rules restrict the medal count to regular-season premiership matches. Preliminary finals and the grand final therefore supply no extra points. That explains why the individual award can be announced while the competition’s premiership remains undecided.

The NRL FAQ explicitly excludes State of Origin and Test matches too. Cleary’s Wally Lewis Medal belongs alongside his Dally M as a separate achievement; his representative performances did not add votes to his club-season tally.

Why the public leaderboard differs from the final count

For the men’s competition, votes and standings are published through round 12. From round 13, judging continues behind closed doors for the rest of the regular season. The public figures stop updating, but players keep earning points.

ABC’s pre-ceremony guide recorded Cleary leading that public count with 38 points, followed by Warriors prop Jackson Ford on 35. Edwards had 32 and Drinkwater 29. Ford subsequently suffered a pectoral injury in round 16 and missed the rest of the regular season, ABC reported.

Those figures were intermediate standings, not the completed result. Edwards’ 32 in the public count and 52 in AAP’s final report describe different stages of voting. In the women’s competition, ABC reported Upton had 12 points from four appearances when its count became private; that was not her winning total either.

There is another potential source of confusion: the NRL’s leaderboard page has a 2026 men’s heading but retains references to the 2025 winners and a final 2025 NRLW section. That visible material does not provide the completed 2026 results.

Why Newcastle’s finals run did not change the awards

Newcastle reached the grand final but had no players in the men’s team of the year, AAP reported. The Knights finished the regular season seventh, and voting was already complete before their finals run. Their later results therefore could not change those selections.

Team-of-the-year judging also covers the regular season. The NRL says judges vote by position during the season and again at its conclusion, with the medal’s top three finishers automatically receiving their positional selections. Coach and captain voting likewise takes place at the regular season’s end.

Who won coach and rookie of the year?

Warriors coach Andrew Webster won the men’s coaching award ahead of Newcastle’s Justin Holbrook, while Canberra playmaker Ethan Sanders was named rookie of the year. In the NRLW, Gold Coast’s Karyn Murphy won coach of the year and Newcastle winger Mercedez Taulelei-Siala took the rookie award after scoring 13 tries in 12 matches.