Clive Churchill Medal

The Clive Churchill Medal is the award given to the player judged to be man-of-the-match in the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill, one of the greatest rugby league players in Australian history, following his death in 1985. A prestigious honour in the NRL, the medal's recipient is chosen by the selectors of the Australian national team and announced and awarded to the player judged best and fairest on the ground at every post-grand final ceremony.

The Clive Churchill Medal has been awarded ever since the 1986 NSWRL season when its first recipient was Parramatta's Peter Sterling. It was initially presented in a case until 2000 where it is presented separately with a ribbon being worn around the neck. The only two players to have won the award more than once are Canberra's Bradley Clyde (1989 and 1991) and Melbourne Storm's Billy Slater (2009 and 2017). In 2010, the Melbourne Storm were stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships due to salary cap breaches exposed by the NRL, however the Clive Churchill Medallists from those years still continue to be recognised.

The medal has only been awarded to a member of the losing grand final team on four occasions. Bradley Clyde in 1991, Brad Mackay (St George) in 1993, Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly) in 2013, and Jack Wighton (Canberra Raiders) in 2019.

Churchill, who the medal was named after, played for and later coached the South Sydney Rabbitohs, played interstate football for both New South Wales and Queensland, and also played for, captained and coached the Australian Kangaroos.

List of recipients[]

Year	Recipient	Team	Position
1986	Peter Sterling	Parramatta Eels	Halfback
1987	Cliff Lyons	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Five-eighth
1988	Paul Dunn	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Prop
1989	Bradley Clyde	Canberra Raiders	Lock
1990	Ricky Stuart	Canberra Raiders	Halfback
1991	Bradley Clyde	Canberra Raiders (losing team)	Lock
1992	Allan Langer	Brisbane Broncos	Halfback
1993	Brad Mackay	St George Dragons (losing team)	Lock
1994	David Furner	Canberra Raiders	Second-row
1995	Jim Dymock	Sydney Bulldogs	Lock
1996	Geoff Toovey	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Halfback
1997	Robbie O'Davis	Newcastle Knights	Fullback
1998	Gorden Tallis^[1]	Brisbane Broncos	Second-row
1999	Brett Kimmorley	Melbourne Storm	Halfback
2000	Darren Lockyer	Brisbane Broncos	Fullback
2001	Andrew Johns	Newcastle Knights	Halfback
2002	Craig Fitzgibbon	Sydney Roosters	Second-row
2003	Luke Priddis^[2]	Penrith Panthers	Hooker
2004	Willie Mason	Bulldogs	Prop
2005	Scott Prince^[3]	Wests Tigers	Halfback
2006	Shaun Berrigan^[4]	Brisbane Broncos	Hooker
2007	Greg Inglis	Melbourne Storm	Five-eighth
2008	Brent Kite^[5]	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Prop
2009	Billy Slater	Melbourne Storm	Fullback
2010	Darius Boyd^[6]	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Fullback
2011	Glenn Stewart^[7]	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Lock
2012	Cooper Cronk	Melbourne Storm	Halfback
2013	Daly Cherry-Evans	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (losing team)	Halfback
2014	Sam Burgess	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Lock
2015	Johnathan Thurston	North Queensland Cowboys	Halfback
2016	Luke Lewis	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Second-row
2017	Billy Slater	Melbourne Storm	Fullback
2018	Luke Keary	Sydney Roosters	Five-eighth
2019	Jack Wighton	Canberra Raiders (losing team)	Five-eighth
2020	Ryan Papenhuyzen	Melbourne Storm	Fullback

Retrospective awards[]

As part of the Centenary of League celebrations, the Clive Churchill Medal has been retrospectively awarded for man-of-the-match performances from season 1954, the first to feature mandatory grand finals. The first recipient from the 1954 season is the man for which the award was originally named, Clive Churchill.^[8]

Despite claims to the contrary at the time of the announcement of the retrospective medals that there had not been Man Of The Match awards for Grand Finals prior to 1986, this was not the case - there had been the Dave Brown Medal awarded at some stage, and, according to the NSWRL's official match day program, a new prize was awarded in 1971, with the winner named by reporters covering the game (^{[citation needed]} (the first was won by South Sydney's Ron Coote). In 1972 the award went to Manly half back Dennis Ward, and the following year, to Manly's Bob Fulton. In 1974, Arthur Beetson won the press writers award, and in 1975 it was Ian Schubert. The retrospective Clive Churchill Medals - either by coincidence or design - reflect those award winners.

In the replayed grand finals of 1977 and 1978, the award was based on efforts over the course of both games, although Manly-Warringah's Graham Eadie was a clear choice in 1978 after a dominating performance from fullback in the Grand Final replay.

Year	Winner	Team	Position
1954	Clive Churchill	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Fullback
1955	Jack Rayner	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Second row
1956	Kevin Brown	St George Dragons	Prop
1957	Norm Provan	St George Dragons	Second row
1958	Norm Provan	St George Dragons	Second row
1959	Peter Provan	St George Dragons	Lock
1960	Monty Porter	St George Dragons	Second row
1961	Brian Clay	St George Dragons	Five-eighth
1962	Ian Walsh	St George Dragons	Hooker
1963	Norm Provan	St George Dragons	Second row
1964	Graeme Langlands	St George Dragons	Fullback
1965	Kevin Ryan	St George Dragons	Prop
1966	John Raper	St George Dragons	Lock
1967	Les Johns	Canterbury-Bankstown (losing team)	Fullback
1968	Eric Simms	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Fullback
1969	Dave Bolton	Balmain Tigers	Five-eighth
1970	Bob Grant	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Halfback
1971	Ron Coote	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Lock
1972	Dennis Ward	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Halfback
1973	Bob Fulton	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Centre
1974	Arthur Beetson	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Prop
1975	Ian Schubert	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Fullback
1976	Graham Eadie	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Fullback
1977	Craig Young	St George Dragons	Prop
1978	Graham Eadie	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Fullback
1979	Steve Morris	St George Dragons	Halfback
1980	Steve Gearin	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Wing
1981	Bob O'Reilly	Parramatta Eels	Prop
1982	Brett Kenny	Parramatta Eels	Five-eighth
1983	Brett Kenny	Parramatta Eels	Five-eighth
1984	Peter Kelly	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Prop
1985	Steve Mortimer	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Halfback

Multiple winners[]

The following players have won the Clive Churchill Medal multiple times.

Medals	Player	Team	Seasons
3	Norm Provan	St George	1957, 1958, 1963*
2	Graham Eadie	Manly-Warringah	1976, 1978
	Brett Kenny	Parramatta	1982, 1983
	Bradley Clyde	Canberra	1989, 1991
	Billy Slater	Melbourne	2009, 2017

* Retrospective medals.

References[]

^ Mascord, Steve (28 September 1998). "Embarrassed, dizzy Tallis says every player should be given a medal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia: Fairfax. p. 22. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
^ Massoud, Josh (2 September 2010). "St George Illawarra hooker Luke Priddis to retire at end of season". Herald Sun. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
^ "Tigers claim historic premiership". abc.net.au. 2 October 2005. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
^ Stevenson, Andrew (2 October 2006). "Medal for the quiet achiever". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
^ "Clive Churchill Medallist Brent Kite flies high in NRL grand final". The Courier-Mail. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
^ Chammas, Michael (4 October 2010). "2010 Clive Churchill winner Darius Boyd". Illawarra Mercury. Australia: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
^ AAP (2 October 2011). "Hasler praises Churchill winner Stewart". ABC News. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
^ James Dampney (1 October 2008). "Greats to get man-of-match awards". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 3 January 2008.

External links[]

[1] Mascord, Steve (28 September 1998). "Embarrassed, dizzy Tallis says every player should be given a medal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia: Fairfax. p. 22. Retrieved 13 February 2011.

[2] Massoud, Josh (2 September 2010). "St George Illawarra hooker Luke Priddis to retire at end of season". Herald Sun. Retrieved 27 August 2011.

[3] "Tigers claim historic premiership". abc.net.au. 2 October 2005. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.

[4] Stevenson, Andrew (2 October 2006). "Medal for the quiet achiever". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 16 December 2009.

[5] "Clive Churchill Medallist Brent Kite flies high in NRL grand final". The Courier-Mail. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2012.

[6] Chammas, Michael (4 October 2010). "2010 Clive Churchill winner Darius Boyd". Illawarra Mercury. Australia: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 October 2010.

[7] AAP (2 October 2011). "Hasler praises Churchill winner Stewart". ABC News. Retrieved 4 June 2012.

[8] James Dampney (1 October 2008). "Greats to get man-of-match awards". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 3 January 2008.

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