Akuila Uate named Rugby League Players Association’s Player of the Year
Akuila Uate of Newcastle Knights and New South Wales, has been named the Rugby League Players’ Association’s (RLPA) Player of the Year, on Tuesday night, September 13, in Sydney. This award comes just a week after his Dally M Winger of the Year award.
The player missed out on the award ceremony, which took place last night at Doltone House in Sydney because he was attending his club’s presentation at Wests Leagues Club.
Uate has won by beating out Paul Gallen, Johnathan Thurston, Matt Bowen, Glenn Stewart, Benji Marshall and Billy Slater, who were contenders for the prestigious award.
The Players’ Association award is given out after the final votes are calculated. The balloting takes place after Round 26 of the National Rugby League (NRL) has completed. Voting is done on a 3-2-1 basis after each match where numbers are awarded by the
opposing outfits’ players.
David Garnsey, who is the chairman of RLPA, forwarded a thank you note from Uate to his fellow players.
While thanking everyone on behalf of Uate, Garnsey said that Uate has, “sent a humble message of thanks to his fellow players for bestowing upon him the RLPA's highest honour''.
The other awards that were given out in the ceremony included the Wests Tigers’ Representative Player award, which was won by Paul Gallen. The New Zealand Representative Player of the Year award was claimed by Benji Marshall.
While speaking to the Knight’s official website, Uate added, "I am very honoured to receive this award and I need to thank my team-mates and coaches because I couldn't do what I do without them. It is a huge privilege to be recognised by your peers and I
just want to thank all of those that voted for me."
The Kinights were kicked out of the the premiership race by Melbourne on Sunday. This allowed Uate and three other Knights’ players to be taken onboard by the Kangaroos' Four Nations training squad starting Monday, September 12.
Garnsey admitted that being recognised for ones’ efforts is a very rewarding experience in itself and it adds to the players’ upcoming performances.
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