Canberra back-rower John Bateman remains among the early front runners on the Dally M Medal leaderboard and is now being tipped to be the first British winner of the prestigious award.
Although it is still very early stages, the 25-year-old is showing no signs of letting up and is now considered one of the favourites for the honour by Australian bookmakers.
Previous years has seen the likes of Gareth Widdop, Josh Hodgson and Sam Burgess challenge for the Dally M Medal, which is considered the NRL’s highest individual accolade, but they have all come up short.
Bateman, who was nominated for last year’s Super League Man of Steel, has taken the NRL by storm in the opening six rounds and scored his first try for CanberraĀ in Sunday’s 26-22 victory against Brisbane Broncos.
John. Bateman. Is. On. š„#NRLRaidersBroncos#TelstraPremiership pic.twitter.com/ToHi0Zn5Wy
— NRL (@NRL) April 21, 2019
The former Bradford and Wigan star is already a fan’s favourite for Ricky Stuart’s side and his impressive displays see him sit joint third in the Dally M Medal standings with nine points.
Only Cameron Munster and James Tedesco have picked up more points so far with the leaderboard publicised up until Round 12 of the premiership season.
After this, voting goes “behind closed doors”, with the winner announced during NRL Grand Final week. See the current standings below.
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