Tag: nrlw

The Frownlow Medal Power Couple.

NRL players Adam Elliott and Millie Boyle have become The Frownlow Medal’s Power Couple after being caught kissing in the toilets at a restaurant recently, and they will be the first couple in history to attend the Frownlow awards night together.

They will also have a toilet cubicle named after them in The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame, beside the Sonny Bill Williams cubicle.

Elliott and Boyle earned the status of Power Couple after being asked to leave a Gold Coast venue when it was discovered they had shared a kiss in the men’s bathroom. Media reports allege Elliott was shirtless, but Boyle stated publicly that the incident was nothing more than an innocent kiss after they’d had a few too many drinks.

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, while AFL player Elijah Taylor is the most recent recipient.

The Bulldogs and Broncos players are not the first pairing to be nominated for Frownlow honours, but are the first duo who both play a football code in Australia. Former AFL player and Wife Beater Nick Stevens, and his girlfriend Amelia Miller, were both nominated in 2016, but Amelia never played professional football.

Elliott has consequently been stood down for the remaining two games of the season and the NRL is investigating the incident, while Boyle has apparently not been sanctioned.

Boyle now becomes the second woman nominated for Frownlow honours, after fellow NRLW player Nita Maynard made history earlier this year with her nomination. Elliott, meanwhile, is very familiar to fans of The Frownlow Medal.

He claimed he would take “professional help in regards to issues with alcohol” after a series of off-field incidents. Just this year, he was accused of getting too close to the wife or his former teammate, Michael Lichaa during a party at Lichaa’s house. In 2018, he appeared dancing naked on the front page of the newspaper when the Bulldogs’ Mad Monday celebration got wild.

Media outlets are reporting that since the incident with Boyle, one of the people Elliott called to apologise for yet another mistake was the Canterbury-Bankstown club sponsor. He apparently told the sponsor that he will never cause an off-field controversy again, and will control his alcohol intake. He better not if he wants to win The Frownow Medal.

Image: NuNa

It happened…

A woman has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal. NRLW player Nita Maynard becomes the first woman to receive the honour since the award’s inception in 2015, after she was involved in an incident at a pub in Sydney.

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, while AFL player Elijah Taylor is the most recent recipient.

The former NSW and New Zealand representative was charged after allegedly assaulting two security guards at Northies in Cronulla, the site which earned nominations for so many players in the past, including 2019 winner Ben Barba and 2016 medallist Corey Norman. Maynard was arrested, and media reports indicate she had to be restrained after becoming aggressive and assaulting the guards.

The Sydney Roosters hooker was taken to Sutherland police station and charged with two counts of common assault and failing to leave premises when required. Interestingly, two hookers from the Roosters men’s team, Victor Radley and Jake Friend, are also Frownlow nominees, so perhaps it has rubbed off on Maynard. That said, the Roosters and the NRL have conveniently palmed off the scandal to the North Sydney Bears, the Roosters’ feeder club, where Maynard currently plays. You’d think the Rooster’s would be proud to claim such a history-making achievement.

Rumours have also surfaced that Maynard has been asked to join the men’s team when her expected suspension ends. The Roosters have suffered many injuries to key players already this season, and they know Maynard would fit in during team bonding sessions.

The nomination of a woman is unprecedented, and has left many questions unanswered:

Does she compete against men for the award?

Yes. The Frownlow Medal does not discriminate. The Frownlow Medal has always judged players on their actions and not their gender, race, colour, religion, sexuality or nationality. Players need only represent an Australia – based team from one of the four major codes in order to qualify. Woman have always been eligible, they just hadn’t been nominated.

Is this a new era of gender equality?

Perhaps.

Can she attend the awards night for The Frownlow Medal and The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame?

Yes, but would she want to? She’d be the only woman there.

Why did she do it?

Who knows. Apparently she’d had a few drinks, and alcohol has caused most of the nominations for The Frownlow Medal. Then again, it happened in The Shire, so maybe she mistook the security guard for Prime Minister Scott Morrison and did what many Australian women would love to do – take a swing!

Will she win?

She’s a chance. As they say in sport, you’ve got to be in it to win it. She faces tough opposition, though, from players nominated for stabbing, assault and rape.

Either way, Maynard will now be remembered as the first woman in history to be nominated for The Frownlow Medal.

Will she be the last?

Image: NuNa