Why it’s time to change name of women’s Dally M award... and what it could be called — Squiers

OPINION

It’s been 10 years since Jenni-Sue Hoepper won the first women’s Dally M award.

For the next five years, only one award out of the night’s 20 was reserved for the women’s game; in 2020, there were four, and in 2022 a women’s team of the year was awarded for the first time.

Now three years later, is it time to make the biggest change yet?

The name.

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Every year the women are awarded the ‘Dally M’ and the trophies handed out throughout the night are of a male player, in Dally’s likeness.

Dally Messenger is a legend of the game, no doubt about it, born in 1883 and playing rugby league through the early 20th century. If the argument is he influenced the game as a whole and we have a one game approach, I understand that.

But when rugby league was first formed, women weren’t included. The pioneers of the women’s game were forced to break out on their own and push officials to be allowed to play.

Those women stood up to extreme bias, sexism, ridicule and social shunning to play the game they loved. Is it time we respect and acknowledge the resilience, determination and courage of those women with the NRLW’s highest honour?

Nellie Doherty and Molly Cane were the two women who fought for the right to play the first ever match, while young 15 year old Maggie Maloney was a sensation and referred to as a ‘female Dally M’.

It wasn’t until 1993 when a governing body for women was established, the Australian Women’s Rugby League, and it took five years before they were recognised and brought under the banner of the Australian Rugby League.

That said, perhaps we look to a more modern pioneer? Jillaroos legend Karyn Murphy would work perfectly with her last name starting with M - could the awards nights be renamed to “The Ms”, or the “Dally and Karyn Ms”, or the “Karyn and Dally Ms”?

Murph though has been honoured with the NRLW Player of the Grand Final Award (the women’s equivalent of the Clive Churchill) and that may be saturation.

Hall of Famer Tahnee Norris is another candidate; she’s the most capped Jillaroo of all time and played in four world cups. The “Dally and Tahnee Awards” has a nice ring to it.

Perhaps the award could be named by a player who represents the NRLW’s formation more specifically?

Jillaroos and Broncos captain Ali Brigginshaw is a top contender here. An inaugural player of the NRLW, she captained the Broncos to the competition’s first three premierships as well as the Jillaroos to two World Cups.

Ali also represents the older days of women’s rugby league before women were properly recognised and acknowledged. She was a part of the Jillaroos side that won the first World Cup in 2013 in England, and played for the national team when they had to pay their own way and were forbidden from wearing the coat of arms on their jerseys.

There’s no changing the name for this year, but next year will be Ali’s last in the game after recently announcing she won’t play on after the 2026 season. Could it then be a fitting time for a name change in her honour at next year’s Dally Ms? Or Dally and Ali Awards?

The NRL wouldn’t be the first sport to change the name of their showpiece awards night. In 2019, cricket rebranded the “Allan Border Medal” to the “Australian Cricket Awards”. Football made the change even earlier, renaming the “Johnny Warren Medal” to the “Warren-Dolan Awards” in 2016 as it combined both the men’s and women’s events.

Dally M isn’t going to be any less represented or honoured at the event. Instead it would provide even more meaning to the game to have a female pioneer represented.

To me, it’s always sat uncomfortably that the women’s awards are named in a man’s honour and the trophies handed out of a man playing. It risks sending the message that they are still simply women in a man’s game, they are outsiders.

A name change and a trophy redesign (with a ponytail or with iconic league braids) could send a powerful message about the game as a whole and the role women play within it.

Below, Sam Squiers runs through the rest of the NRLW Talking Points!

RUGBY INFLUX INTO NRLW

The Rugby World Cup ended on the weekend with a record breaking crowd of 81,885 at Twickenham Stadium to see England be crowned champions.

While some predict a boost for rugby off the back of the World Cup, others expect an exodus. A host of union players, mostly from New Zealand, have already embarked on talks with NRLW clubs to make the switch to the 13-woman code.

New Zealand star Portia Woodman-Wickliffe had her proposed move to the Knights blocked by the NRL because she was an ambassador for the World Cup; now it’s over, there’s no reason for her not to sign, while former Bronco Stacey Waaka hasn’t stopped posting on social media about her old side making the NRLW Grand Final and clearly has strong connections there.

JESSE SOUTHWELL’S NEXT MOVE

Has Jesse Southwell played her last game for the Knights?

Whispers have been loud all season that Southwell is set to join the Broncos next season. Gayle Broughton has announced that she will leave Brisbane, where she has played the last three seasons, to return to New Zealand to play for the Warriors in 2026. It opens the door even wider for Jesse to move to Brisbane to play in the halves.

Broncos captain Ali Brigginshaw opened up on her club’s desires to sign Southwell telling the media last week: “I’d love her to come here. I spoke to her when we played them last time, she’s a young kid with a lot of hype around her and sometimes that can be overwhelming.

“I just spoke to her about there is pressure but they’re talking about you for a reason, you’re a great 7, you’ve got a huge future in the game and in the end it’s her decision, but it’s people talking about the women’s game and that’s what I love, so embrace that part of it but also I think people will let her make her decision.

“And if she wants to come here, I’ve told her she’s more than welcome but it’s hype, it’s excitement and I know she’ll make the right decision.”

Was that a pitch? Or is it a done deal?

MISSED PRELIM OPPORTUNITY

Saturday night’s Preliminary Final between the Roosters and Sharks was epic. A stand-alone game, a Sharks comeback and scores level with minutes on the clock before Jocelyn Kelleher kicked a field goal to send her Roosters through to the Grand Final.

It was nail-biting, edge of your seat footy, but was it a missed opportunity hosting a clash between two Sydney teams in Gosford?

It was a Roosters home game, with the club having strong ties to the central coast. Polytec Stadium can sit 20,000 and there were 3289 at the match.

A Sydney-based stadium could have seen both Cronulla and Sydney fans attend and add to the spectacle of a sensational clash.

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