FOG No.225 has capped his extraordinary breakout season by being named the NRL’s Dally M Rookie of the Year for 2022. Nanai was among a host of Maroons to pick up awards on the NRL’s night of celebration, while Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes was named the Dally M Medal winner as the game’s best and fairest for the 2022 season. Nanai has had the season most can only dream about. The Cairns Kangaroos junior actually made his debut last year, but as he only played four games in 2021, he still qualified as a 2022 rookie player. Starring for the Cowboys during their fairytale run to the finals, Nanai was the competition’s leading try-scoring forward, crossing 17 times and announcing himself as a genuine strike weapon on the right edge. He also made a stunning debut Origin series for Queensland, called up for the Maroons by new coach Billy Slater and immediately looked at home in the game’s toughest arena – including a remarkable performance in the series decider that has been hailed as one of the greatest games of all time. Nanai now has Dally M Awards for Rookie of the Year and Second-Rower of the Year on the mantlepiece, and seems a certainty to be selected for Australia in Mal Meninga’s World Cup squad for the upcoming tournament in England. It is a stunning rugby league resume – made all the more impressive by the fact that Nanai is still only 19 years of age and just getting started in what looks to be an outstanding career. Nanai was joined on the Dally M stage by fellow Maroons Cameron Munster (Five-Eighth of the Year), Valentine Holmes (Centre of the Year) and Queensland-based non-Maroons Todd Payten (Coach of the Year) and Payne Haas (Prop of the Year), while in the women’s awards, Broncos Jaime Chapman (Winger of the Year) and Tarryn Aiken (Five-Eighth of the Year) won major awards. The Dally M Awards are the last of the major individual awards to be handed out for the season, with the exception being the Churchill Medal for best player in the grand final – with Parramatta’s Reed Mahoney and Jake Arthur the only Queenslanders on display. Earlier this year, Brisbane’s Patrick Carrigan cemented his reputation as one of the best and most reliable players in the game after being awarded the Wally Lewis Medal as the best player in this year’s Origin series, and the Ron McAuliffe Medal as Queensland’s best player. Ben Hunt was awarded the prestigious FOGS Peter Jackson Memorial Award, for his outstanding contribution to the Queensland cause. This award is to recognise those who personify the Queensland spirit, and Hunt was certainly a worthy winner with his commitment to the Maroon jersey, his dedication to the team and his resilience that serves as an inspiration to others. Unfairly maligned and stripped of his confidence for years following an error in the 2015 grand final, Hunt has doggedly rebuilt himself to be an ultra-reliable skipper for the Dragons and one of the game’s leading players – as evidenced by his third placing in the Dally M Medal. But his renaissance was truly complete in the third game of this year’s Origin series when, with a minute to go in one of Queensland’s greatest performances, Hunt snatched a chip kick from Blues halfback Nathan Cleary out of the air, and scorched 70m upfield to score. It was breathtaking, brilliant and befitting of the man who always gives everything he has on the field, and particularly while wearing a Maroon jersey. Hunt won the McAuliffe Medal in 2021 as Queensland’s best player, but his performances in 2022 to win the FOGS Peter Jackson Memorial Award may well have been his finest hour.