For Orford, having the player of the year medal hung around his neck by Immortal Wally Lewis in front of a buzzing crowd at the Hordern Pavilion must have hushed his legion of critics - if only for one night.
His superb start to the season set it up. He had led voting before it went behind closed doors after round 16.
Behind the scenes, he was facing as many challengers as he has detractors, not just from Smith and Slater but Raiders five-eighth Terry Campese and Knights captain Danny Buderus. He did not poll in the final week but Slater's indiscretion ensured Orford won the award outright.
Whether it's a lucky omen for the remainder of the season is uncertain. Only twice in the past 22 years has a player won the Dally M and a premiership in the same year. Last year, Storm skipper Smith became the first player since Peter Sterling in 1986 to achieve the feat.
Two-time Dally M winner and Sea Eagles great Cliff Lyons believes Orford can follow in the footsteps of Sterling and Smith - but only if he rectifies his kicking game.
"If he can work on that, I reckon Manly can win it with Matt Orford there," Lyons said. "The criticism of him gets a bit heavy, but I think he makes up for his deficiencies with his kicking games in other areas."
Rep Player: Greg Inglis Rookie: Chris Sandow (Rabbitohs)
People's choice: Nathan Hindmarsh (Eels)
Under-20s player of the year: Ben Hunt (Broncos)
In other major gongs handed out last night, Canberra's Neil Henry was rewarded for his stirring job with a team of virtual no-names when he was named coach of the year
shawcross da warrior wrote:take your pick lenegan anyone would do
hindmarsh would be immense...
Remember talking with the late great Mike Greg, just after a State of Origin about three years ago. Nathan Hindmarsh was taken off the field after 25 mins. He had just pulled off 28 tackles. Mike Greg couldn't emphasise enough just how much respect he had for him. At the time he was too ill to go watching Wigan but every time Joel Tompkins played, he asked me how he had gone on. He recognised all those years ago just how good he could be.
Just think what could have been.
“Usually the fans that abuse players like Sam have never done anything of any note themselves. They’re nobodies, whose greatest claim to fame is abusing someone who has, and these so-called ‘Eddie the Experts’ pretend to their mates that they have."
