Who will win the 2019 Dally M Medal? Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will be seeking to make it two in a row but faces a host of worthy challengers.
With the likes of James Tedesco, Cameron Smith and Mitchell Moses expected to poll well, the experts at NRL.com have had their say.
NRL.com experts view
Steve Renouf (Maroons legend)
Definitely James Tedesco. Even without the help of the southern mafia, he deserves to be the recipient. What a player he has become at all levels.
Brett Kimmorley (Former NSW halfback)
James Tedesco by the length of the straight. He's taken his game to a whole new level, and before that he was already a top-line player. It is a joy to watch him every time he plays.
Jamie Soward (Premiership winner)
James Tedesco. He's an outstanding player and he's had an outstanding season. When he has the ball in hands the opposition defence is on high alert and on many occasions that isn't enough.
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Alicia Newton (NRL.com reporter)
Mitchell Moses for me after finishing the season with 25 try assists. I can't see too many other Eels players taking points away from him consistently in the final three months of the competition when the side won nine of their last 13 games.
Match: Raiders v Rabbitohs
Finals Week 3 -
home Team
Raiders
4th Position
away Team
Rabbitohs
3rd Position
Venue: GIO Stadium, Canberra
Margie McDonald (NRL.com senior reporter)
Josh Hodgson. He played 11 games in an injury-affected 2018 season and 22 so far in 2019. The Raiders have gone from 10th to top-four. That's no coincidence. You could almost put the No.6 and No.7 on the back of his jersey along with No.9 as he dabbles in all those roles in the one match. The boy for from Hull has a real hunger to win about him.
Cronk the 'weird dude' a huge influence on Keary and Tedesco
Zac Bailey (NRL.com reporter)
James Tedesco. He's the best player in the world at the moment and deserves the game's highest individual honour. Tedesco leads the league in tackle breaks, is second in line breaks, run metres and kick return metres and is one of the most exciting players to watch. Has a freakish ability to turn nothing into something special.
Michael Chammas (NRL.com chief reporter)
James Tedesco is the best player in the world at the moment and has done all but everything in the game … except win a Dally M Medal. It would be hard to deny him this year given what he's done with the Roosters.
Chris Kennedy (NRL.com reporter)
To take out the Dally M you need your team to win enough matches to have plenty of points on offer and be a dominant enough player within that team not to share too many points with others. The stars in the top four teams would have taken a lot of points from each other whereas Mitchell Moses was consistently among Parra's best in their wins so I'll tip him.
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Dan Walsh (NRL.com reporter)
Cameron Smith. As good as James Tedesco was all year in becoming the bookies' favourite, it feels like there's just a few more match-winners at the Roosters to take points off him compared to Smith at the Storm. It could well come down to the final round when Tedesco is unlikely to have polled in a loss to South Sydney, while Smith was his usual scheming best as Melbourne got past the Cowboys.
Brad Walter (NRL.com senior reporter)
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. In a disappointing season for the Warriors, Tuivasa-Sheck has been a shining light for his team on a weekly basis and if he doesn't claim back-to-back Dally M Medals the Kiwis fullback will be close.
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Joel Gould (NRL.com reporter)
Warriors skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is a big chance of going back-to-back after another consistently brilliant season. The dazzling fullback is invariably his side's best player when they win and even when they don't he is one of the leading performers on the field.
Paul Suttor (NRL.com editor)
A few years ago, Jason Taumalolo came from the clouds to score a rare Dally M Medal win for the locks and South Sydney's Cameron Murray could do the same. Murray has been the best-performed Rabbitoh all season, especially over the last couple of months, and it's only a matter of time before he becomes their captain.
Mary Konstantopoulos (Ladies Who League)
My pick is Mitchell Moses from the Parramatta Eels. He has dramatically improved this season in terms of his kicking and his running game and has been at the forefront of Parramatta's change of fortune.
Brett Keeble (NRL.com reporter)
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. The fullback and captain was again the shining light for the inconsistent Warriors, so he should have polled maximum votes in most of their wins and still caught the attention of judges when they lost. Must surely be in with a show to be the first back-to-back Dally M Medallist since Johnathan Thurston in 2014-15.
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Maria Tsialis (Big League editor)
It will be tight between Cameron Smith and James Tedesco but I think Smith will claim the Dally M. From a numbers perspective - he has taken home the Big League Player of the Year gong, which is based on 3, 2, 1 votes of every game and is a pretty strong indicator for who will win the Dally M. Smith also has the advantage of having carried most of the load for the Storm this year while Tedesco has been part of games where points were shared among guys like Mitchell, Keary and Cronk.
Match: Roosters v Storm
Finals Week 3 -
home Team
Roosters
2nd Position
away Team
Storm
1st Position
Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Tanisha Stanton (NRL.com reporter)
It’s hard to go past James Tedesco. The fullback has brought a whole new dimension to the Roosters backline since his arrival in 2018. He played an integral role in the club winning last year's premiership and has only got better.
Lone Scout (NRL Fantasy expert)
Cameron Smith was running fourth among Dally M contenders when voting went quiet after round 12 and since then he led the Storm to 11 wins in 13 regular-season games. The Storm finished three wins clear of the pack, and as the man who pulls their strings Smith surely racked up his fair share of Dally M points in that time.
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Troy Whittaker (NRL.com reporter)
Roosters fullback James Tedesco has epitomised excellence. With many of his star teammates missing chunks of footy, Tedesco has been his team's main man and should have polled enough votes to win.
Tony Webeck (NRL.com reporter)
Even in a team as stacked as the Roosters, it's hard to see too many players pinching points from star fullback James Tedesco. Latrell Mitchell, Luke Keary and Joseph Manu will all feature somewhat but there’s barely been a game in which he has played all season where he wasn't among the best three on the field. Teddy in a landslide.
Corey Rosser (NRL.com reporter)
James Tedesco. In a Roosters team full of stars, there's no player more important to them than the NSW fullback. He's been just as good, if not better, than Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was last year when he took out the Dally M.
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Kenny Scott (NRL.com podcaster)
Cameron Murray has had more than just a breakout year. After scoring the Bunnies first try of 2019 he went on to make his Origin debut and has hauled his team, kicking and screaming, into grand final contention. When voting went dark after round 12 Cam Murray was sitting around 15th in the count but his dominance over the second half of the season cannot be ignored.
Jason Wolfgram (NRL.com reporter)
James Tedesco. He's in career-best form and you only have to look at his stats to see why. If there's one player that's been consistent from one week to the next, you can't go past the Roosters' No.1.
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The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of the NRL, ARLC, NRL clubs or state associations.
