Talatau Junior Amone has been granted special permission to carry a hammer onto the field as a reward for keeping The Frownlow Medal in the NRL.
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. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015.
Amone won the most prestigious award in Australian sport after being found guilty of assaulting a man with a hammer, and his St Geroge-Illawarra Dragons are excited about his return.
“It’s a huge honour for Junior and the club to win this award. We won it with Corey Norman and we’re the first club to win it twice. It’s also great to keep it in the NRL for yet another year,” announced a Dragons spokesperson.
“What’s even better is that the NRL were so happy about the result that they’ll let Junior carry a hammer onto the field when he comes back, probably around 2025. Noone’s ever been allowed to do this before, and let’s face it, our team could do with a bit of punch in attack.”
Amone could return in 2025 after avoiding prison and been sentenced instead to a two-year two-year Intensive Corrections Order to be served in the community.
“Talatau will also help us blood new talent in the halves, continued the spokesperson.
“Part of his community service order is to be a role model for young people, so he’ll chase our new halves recruits around the training paddock with a hammer for a season. Whichever rookie survives gets the gig.”
Amone’s father, Talatau, has been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars, with a non parole period of 12 months, while both men will have to pay their share of almost $15,000 worth of damages and compensation.
They were both found guilty in 2023 of damaging property, intimidation, entering a building or land with the intention to commit an indictable offence, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm from the incident in Warrawong, south of Sydney.
They were found to have chased a man along a rooftop while wielding a hammer and assaulting the victim.
Amone himself was elated to have won the award, but had one regret.
“This is such a huge honour for me and my family. I wanna thank my Dad, coz I wouldn’t be here without him, and I wanna dedicate this to all the boys at the Dragons. I’m proud to carry on the legacy set by Corey (Norman) and I hope another Dragon can win it in the future.”
“When I chased that guy on the roof with a hammer, I was just thinking about smashing his skull to pieces, you know, I wasn’t even thinking about winning the Frownlow, so this is a huge shock but I’m really happy.”
“The only problem with not getting jail time is that I won’t get to play in the prison league team with Jarryd (Hayne) and Manase (Fainu) and all the other NRL boys who are locked up.”
Amone then danced the night away with his fellow Frownlow nominees, finishing the evening with a solo performance to MC Hammer’s You Can’t Touch This.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 