Michael Jennings leads a star-studded cast of Frownlow Medal nominees who will play for NSW in game 1 of State of Origin 2016.
The Parramatta and NSW centre was a finalist in the competition in 2015 and will join fellow nominees Paul Gallen, Josh Dugan, Blake Ferguson, Greg Bird and Dylan Walker in Blues colours.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. The first medal was awarded to Sydney Roosters and New Zealand representative Shaun Kenny-Dowall in 2015.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players who receive media attention for similarly scandalous behaviour and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Todd Carney.
Jennings fought hard, with a boom gate, for last year’s Frownlow, before eventually losing out to Kenny-Dowall, and the police.
NSW Captain Gallen recently became the first active footballer to be nominated for the Hall of Fame following an ill advised tweet and public urination.
Partners in crime Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson are to be reunited, as Blues coach Laurie Daley seeks a backline which can wreak as much havoc on the Maroons as the pair did at various establishments throughout Sydney, and, of course, on social media.
Greg Romance Bird was nominated for the Hall of Fame after declaring his love for his bride of one day by washing a police car in Byron Bay.
Surprise selection Dylan Walker has been drafted into the side to ensure that bruised and battered team mates receive the correct medical treatment after what promises to be another brutal Origin encounter.
First published in May 2016.
Image: Nuna
The Frownlow Medal 