One New Zealand Warriors Erin Clark and Payton Takimoana both won Dally M Team of the Year accolades at the Dally M Medal presentation event in Sydney on Wednesday night.
Earlier in the evening there was also recognition for rookie prop Ivana Lauitiiti who was awarded the NRLW Dally M Tackle of the Year.
Leka Halasima was an unsuccessful finalist for the NRL Dally M Second Rower of the Year and the NRL Dally Rookie of the Year while Patricia Maliepo, who was named in the RLPA Players’ Dream Team, missed out on the NRLW Five Eighth of the Year.
It's the third award for Clark in just over a week.
The 28-year-old picked up two honours in player-judged awards last week when his peers voted him the lock in the RLPA’s NRL Players’ Dream Team and also rated him the Recruit of the Year.
Lauitiiti huge hit wins NRLW Dally M Tackle of the Year
He headed off his fellow Kiwi international Naufahu Whyte from the Sydney Roosters and Penrith captain Isaah Yeo for the Dally M honour.
One of four players to appear in each of the Warriors’ 25 games, Clark brought up his 100th career appearance early in the campaign, going on to average 147 metres and 34 tackles a game (95 per cent tackle efficiency).
Starting all but the round one match against Canberra, his numbers were career bests by some distance.
His total of 1451 post-contact metres is the sixth best in the entire competition bettered by only props Addin Fonua-Blake (Sharks), Naufahu Whyte (Roosters)and Payne Haas (Broncos), second rower Eliesa Katoa (Storm) and winger Daniel Tupou (Roosters). Among all forwards the only ones to top Clark's total run metres of 3696 are Fonua-Blake, Terrell May (Tigers), Haas and Patrick Carrigan (Broncos); he topped 100 metres in all 25 matches he played, a feat not achieved by renowned metre eaters Fonua-Blake, Carrigan or Haas.
Coming out of provincial rugby union, Takimoana led all try scorers late in the NRLW regular season before being headed by Brisbane’s Tamika Upton, Upton finishing with 18 tries and Takimoana with 15, well clear of the previous best for a season of 11 by Teagan Berry in 2023.
The 22-year-old Tauranga-born Takimoana amassed her tries in 11 matches failing to score just twice in a run including two hat-tricks and two doubles.
