One New Zealand Warriors prop Jackson Ford, in the form of his life, has bagged his second haul of six points in two games to take the outright lead in the 2026 Dally M Medal race.
In his 99th career game the 28-year-old followed up his outstanding performance in the season opener against the Roosters with another non-stop, heart and soul display in the Warriors’ 40-6 victory over Canberra on Friday night.
Awarded another maximum he sits alone on top of the leaderboard with 12 points, three points clear of Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards in second place.
After playing 70 minutes straight against the Roosters, he punched out 76 minutes against the Raiders before soaking up the victory from the bench for the last four minutes.
As well as scoring a try off Erin Clark’s slick short ball, Ford carried the ball 15 times for 154 metres, the most of any forward on the field just ahead of James Fisher-Harris (151). On a tough night in the middle of the park, he also had the most post-contact metres (57) among all forwards plus five tackle breaks and a team-high 37 tackles.
Match: Warriors v Raiders
Round 2 -
home Team
Warriors
2nd Position
away Team
Raiders
11th Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
One New Zealand Warriors players swept all 12 Dally M points available with halfback Tanah Boyd collecting four points and interchange fullback Taine Tuaupiki and captain James Fisher-Harris one each.
Boyd was involved in almost everything scoring his second try in as many weeks, kicking five goals, making 57 metres from six runs as well as being credited with two try assists, handling the ball 73 times, passing 47 times, making 797 metres from 23 kicks (including his monstrous 40/20) and working hard on defence with 21 tackles.
Coming on after just nine minutes to replace Chanel Harris-Tavita, the livewire Tuaupiki made 207 metres from 22 runs with six tackle breaks.
Fisher-Harris provided a potent one-two punch with Ford, carting the ball 151 metres from 18 carries (52 post-contact metres) in his 59 metres on the field and making 35 tackles with only one miss.
Dally M leaderboard | Round two
12 Jackson Ford (One New Zealand Warriors)
9 Dylan Edwards (Panthers)
8 Dylan Brown (Knights)
7 Harry Grant (Storm), Isaah Yeo (Panthers), Nathan Cleary (Panthers), Sualauvi Faalogo (Storm)
6 Braydon Trindall (Sharks), Ethan Sanders (Raiders), Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (Dolphins), Jarome Luai (Wests Tigers), James Tedesco (Roosters), Kalyn Ponga (Knights)
5 Tanah Boyd (One New Zealand Warriors), Stephen Crichton (Bulldogs), Stefano Utoikamanu (Storm)
Other One New Zealand Warriors players:
2 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
1 Taine Tuaupiki, James Fisher-Harris
