One New Zealand Warriors front rower Jackson Ford is an early co-leader in the Dally M Medal race after being awarded the maximum six points for his outstanding performance in the club’s superb season-opening 42-18 win over the Sydney Roosters.
In front of a packed Go Media Stadium, Ford was relentless as he played the first 70 minutes before going to the bench for the final 10 minutes.
In that time had game high stats for most runs (22), most metres gained (218) and most post-contact metres (112) plus a team-high 28 tackles.
The judges gave him the maximum six points while the other six were split between Roosters captain James Tedesco with three, Warriors winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck with two and his teammate and standoff Tanah Boyd with one.
Match: Warriors v Roosters
Round 1 -
home Team
Warriors
4th Position
away Team
Roosters
14th Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
After missing the trials, Tuivasa-Sheck made 167 metres from 16 runs, 65 post-contact metres, two line breaks, one line break assist and two try assists.
Boyd had a significant influence on the contest scoring a sharp opening try in the 10th minute, kicking seven goals from nine attempts, making 90 metres from 11 runs, producing one line breaks, two line break assists, two try assists and two tackle breaks plus 20 tackles. He handled the ball 59 times, passed 43 times and made 354 metres from 12 kicks.
