North Queensland Cowboys forward and FOG#223, Reuben Cotter has captured a special Origin awards double adding the Ron McAuliffe medal as the Queensland players’ player to his Wally Lewis medal as the player of the 2023 interstate series.

The QRL awards were held at the Brisbane City Hall on Friday.

Rooster’s power forward and Queensland FOG#210, Lindsay Collins, was deservedly announced as the winner of the prestigious FOGS Peter Jackson award which recognises a player or staff member for their overall contribution to the game and who epitomises the famous Queensland “spirit”.

Queensland’s greatest player, Wally Lewis, accepted the Peter Jackson award on behalf of Collins who was in Melbourne playing for the Storm at the weekend.

Brisbane-born Jackson, a loveable rogue, played 17 Origins for Queensland between 1986-1992.

The FOGS struck a special medal in Jackson’s honour after he passed away in 1997.

Chris “Choppy” Close was the inaugural winner of the medal in 2002.

Other winners have been legendary team manager, Dick “Tosser” Turner, (2004), Darren Lockyer (2006), current Queensland coach Billy Slater (2016), and last year’s Origin hero, Ben Hunt.

Rockhampton’s Tamika Upton received the Annie Banks Medal as Queensland’s women’s Player of the Year, while gritty No.7 Zahara Temara took out the Renae Kunst award.

The FOGS would also like to extend their deepest and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Indigenous trailer blazer, Lionel Morgan, who passed on Sunday aged 85.

Morgan broke the shackles as a pioneer when he became the first Indigenous person to represent Australia in any football code.

He scored two tries in his Test debut for Australia against France in 1960 and represented Queensland 12 times.