Clive Churchill Medal

Clive Churchill Medal

2025 medal winner Reece Walsh
League	National Rugby League
Awarded for	The man-of-the-match in the NRL Grand Final
History
First award	1986 (contemporary) 1954 (retrospective)
First winner	Peter Sterling (contemporary) Clive Churchill (retrospective)
Most wins	Norm Provan (3)
Most recent	Reece Walsh (2025)

The Clive Churchill Medal is the award given to the player judged to be man-of-the-match in the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill following his death in 1985. Churchill is considered one of the greatest and most decorated players in Australian rugby league history. One of the highest individual player honours in the NRL, the medal's recipient is chosen by the selectors of the Australian national team. It is announced at the post-grand final ceremony, and awarded by a previous winner. The current recipient of the award is Reece Walsh of the Brisbane Broncos.

The Clive Churchill Medal has been awarded since the 1986 NSWRL season when its first recipient was Peter Sterling. It was initially presented in a case until 2000 where it is presented separately with a ribbon being worn around the neck. The only three players to have won the award more than once are Bradley Clyde (1989 and 1991), Billy Slater (2009 and 2017) and Nathan Cleary (2021 and 2023) . Despite the Melbourne Storm being stripped of their 2007 and 2009 premiership titles due to salary cap breaches in 2010, the medal winners of those years remain officially recognised.

The medal has only been awarded to a member of the losing grand final team on four occasions. Clyde in 1991, Brad Mackay in 1993, Daly Cherry-Evans in 2013, and Jack Wighton in 2019.

List of recipients

Table key

^	Player was member of losing team

Table of recipients

Year	Recipient	Team	Position	Ref
1986	Peter Sterling	Parramatta Eels	Halfback
1987	Cliff Lyons	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Five-eighth
1988	Paul Dunn	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Prop
1989	Bradley Clyde (1)	Canberra Raiders	Lock
1990	Ricky Stuart	Canberra Raiders	Halfback
1991	Bradley Clyde ^ (2)	Canberra Raiders	Lock
1992	Allan Langer	Brisbane Broncos	Halfback
1993	Brad Mackay ^	St George Dragons	Lock
1994	David Furner	Canberra Raiders	Second-row
1995	Jim Dymock	Sydney Bulldogs	Lock
1996	Geoff Toovey	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Halfback
1997	Robbie O'Davis	Newcastle Knights	Fullback
1998	Gorden Tallis	Brisbane Broncos	Second-row	[1]
1999	Brett Kimmorley	Melbourne Storm	Halfback
2000	Darren Lockyer	Brisbane Broncos	Fullback
2001	Andrew Johns	Newcastle Knights	Halfback	[2]
2002	Craig Fitzgibbon	Sydney Roosters	Second-row	[3]
2003	Luke Priddis	Penrith Panthers	Hooker	[4]
2004	Willie Mason	Bulldogs	Prop	[5]
2005	Scott Prince	Wests Tigers	Halfback	[6]
2006	Shaun Berrigan	Brisbane Broncos	Hooker	[7]
2007	Greg Inglis	Melbourne Storm	Five-eighth	[8]
2008	Brent Kite	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Prop	[9]
2009	Billy Slater (1)	Melbourne Storm	Fullback	[10]
2010	Darius Boyd	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Fullback	[11]
2011	Glenn Stewart	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Lock	[12]
2012	Cooper Cronk	Melbourne Storm	Halfback	[13]
2013	Daly Cherry-Evans ^	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Halfback	[14]
2014	Sam Burgess	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Lock	[15]
2015	Johnathan Thurston	North Queensland Cowboys	Halfback	[16]
2016	Luke Lewis	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Second-row	[17]
2017	Billy Slater (2)	Melbourne Storm	Fullback	[18]
2018	Luke Keary	Sydney Roosters	Five-eighth	[19]
2019	Jack Wighton ^	Canberra Raiders	Five-eighth	[20]
2020	Ryan Papenhuyzen	Melbourne Storm	Fullback	[21]
2021	Nathan Cleary	Penrith Panthers	Halfback	[22]
2022	Dylan Edwards	Penrith Panthers	Fullback	[23]
2023	Nathan Cleary (2)	Penrith Panthers	Halfback	[24]
2024	Liam Martin	Penrith Panthers	Second-row	[25]
2025	Reece Walsh	Brisbane Broncos	Fullback

Retrospective awards

As part of the Centenary of League celebrations in 2008, the Clive Churchill Medal has been retrospectively awarded for man-of-the-match performances from season 1954, the first to feature mandatory grand finals. The first recipient from the 1954 season is the man for which the award was originally named, Clive Churchill. ^[26]

Despite claims to the contrary at the time of the announcement of the retrospective medals that there had not been Man Of The Match awards for Grand Finals prior to 1986, this was not the case - there had been the Dave Brown Medal awarded at some stage, and, according to the NSWRL's official match day program, a new prize was awarded in 1971, with the winner named by reporters covering the game (the first was won by South Sydney's Ron Coote).^{[ citation needed ]} In 1972 the award went to Manly half back Dennis Ward, and the following year, to Manly's Bob Fulton.^{[ citation needed ]} In 1974, Arthur Beetson won the press writers award, and in 1975 it was Ian Schubert. The retrospective Clive Churchill Medals - either by coincidence or design - reflect those award winners.^{[ citation needed ]}

In the replayed grand finals of 1977 and 1978, the award was based on efforts over the course of both games, although Manly-Warringah's Graham Eadie was a clear choice in 1978 after a dominating performance from fullback in the Grand Final replay.^{[ citation needed ]}

Table key

^	Player was member of losing team

Table of recipients

Year	Recipient	Team	Position
1954	Clive Churchill	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Fullback
1955	Jack Rayner	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Second row
1956	Kevin Brown	St George Dragons	Prop
1957	Norm Provan (1)	St George Dragons	Second row
1958	Norm Provan (2)	St George Dragons	Second row
1959	Peter Provan	St George Dragons	Lock
1960	Monty Porter	St George Dragons	Second row
1961	Brian Clay	St George Dragons	Five-eighth
1962	Ian Walsh	St George Dragons	Hooker
1963	Norm Provan (3)	St George Dragons	Second row
1964	Graeme Langlands	St George Dragons	Fullback
1965	Kevin Ryan	St George Dragons	Prop
1966	John Raper	St George Dragons	Lock
1967	Les Johns ^	Canterbury-Bankstown	Fullback
1968	Eric Simms	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Fullback
1969	Dave Bolton	Balmain Tigers	Five-eighth
1970	Bob Grant	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Halfback
1971	Ron Coote	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Lock
1972	Dennis Ward	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Halfback
1973	Bob Fulton	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Centre
1974	Arthur Beetson	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Prop
1975	Ian Schubert	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Fullback
1976	Graham Eadie (1)	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Fullback
1977	Craig Young	St George Dragons	Prop
1978	Graham Eadie (2)	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Fullback
1979	Steve Morris	St George Dragons	Halfback
1980	Steve Gearin	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Wing
1981	Bob O'Reilly	Parramatta Eels	Prop
1982	Brett Kenny (1)	Parramatta Eels	Five-eighth
1983	Brett Kenny (2)	Parramatta Eels	Five-eighth
1984	Peter Kelly	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Prop
1985	Steve Mortimer	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Halfback

Multiple winners

The following players have won the Clive Churchill Medal multiple times.

Medals	Player	Team	Seasons
3	Norm Provan	St George	1957*, 1958*, 1963*
2	Graham Eadie	Manly-Warringah	1976*, 1978*
	Brett Kenny	Parramatta	1982*, 1983*
	Bradley Clyde	Canberra	1989, 1991
	Billy Slater	Melbourne	2009, 2017
	Nathan Cleary	Penrith	2021, 2023

* Retrospective medals.

See also

• Sports portal

• Dally M Medal
• Rothmans Medal
• Harry Sunderland Trophy
• Norm Smith Medal
• Karyn Murphy Medal

References

1. Mascord, Steve (28 September 1998). "Embarrassed, dizzy Tallis says every player should be given a medal". The Sydney Morning Herald . Australia: Fairfax. p. 22. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
2. Clive Churchill Medal winner: Andrew Johns - 2001. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2024– via www.nrl.com.
3. "Fitzgibbon finally on winning side". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 October 2002. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
4. Massoud, Josh (2 September 2010). "St George Illawarra hooker Luke Priddis to retire at end of season". Herald Sun . Retrieved 27 August 2011.
5. "Oh, brother: Mason sees his dream come true". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 October 2004. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
6. "Tigers claim historic premiership". abc.net.au. 2 October 2005. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
7. Stevenson, Andrew (2 October 2006). "Medal for the quiet achiever". The Sydney Morning Herald . Australia: Fairfax Media . Retrieved 16 December 2009.
8. Webster, Andrew; Pandaram, Jamie (1 October 2007). "Invincible Inglis in a class of his own". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
9. "Clive Churchill Medallist Brent Kite flies high in NRL grand final". The Courier-Mail . 5 October 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
10. Magnay, Jacquelin (5 October 2009). "Slater puts pedal to the medal for No.1 berth". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
11. Chammas, Michael (4 October 2010). "2010 Clive Churchill winner Darius Boyd". Illawarra Mercury . Australia: Fairfax Media . Retrieved 4 October 2010.
12. AAP (2 October 2011). "Hasler praises Churchill winner Stewart". ABC News. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
13. "Melbourne Storm's crafty playmaker Cooper Cronk caps superb season with Clive Churchill medal". Fox Sports. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
14. "Cherry-Evans surprised by Churchill honour". ABC News. 6 October 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
15. "South Sydney Rabbitohs – Article". Site Name, i.e. Moz. 27 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
16. "Thurston voted best Churchill Medal winner for 2015 heroics". National Rugby League. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
17. Pengilly, Adam (2 October 2016). "NRL grand final 2016: Cronulla Sharks' Luke Lewis wins Clive Churchill medal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
18. Glover, Ben (1 October 2017). "NRL 2017 grand final: Billy Slater wins Clive Churchill Medal for the second time". foxsports.com.au. News Corporation Australia. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
19. McDonald, Margie (30 September 2018). "'Two-position' Keary wins Clive Churchill Medal". NRL.com. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
20. Walsh, Dan (6 October 2019). "'Numbest I've ever felt': Wighton wins Clive Churchill Medal". NRL.com. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
21. De Silva, Chris (25 October 2020). "Ryan Papenhuyzen claims Clive Churchill Medal as Melbourne Storm take out NRL Grand Final". Nine's Wide World of Sport. Nine Media. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
22. "Penrith co-captain Nathan Cleary wins Clive Churchill Medal after Panthers claim 2021 premiership". abc.net.au. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 October 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
23. Tackle, Zero (2 October 2022). "2022 Clive Churchill Medal winner announced". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
24. "Nathan Cleary clinches second Clive Churchill Medal". National Rugby League. 1 October 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
25. "Martin and Kelly win major awards on Grand Final Day". New South Wales Rugby League. 6 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
26. James Dampney (1 October 2008). "Greats to get man-of-match awards". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 3 January 2008.