Wally Lewis Medal Judges Respond to Critics of Slater Award Winners

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The social media reaction to Slater's gong was out of this world.

Todd Greenberg, the head of the NRL, said that it was not necessary to make public the results of the judges

. "In the second game, Billy was by far the best player," said Meninga.

"Billy and Boyd Cordner did a lot of probing in that second game.

"Some people criticized us for not awarding the prize to Billy in the second game

. sounding in the first game when [James] Tedesco did and "GI" [Greg Inglis].

"Wednesday night was between Billy, DCE and Tom Trbojevic."

"There was no collusion, the vote was done independently and Billy was the man of the match in our eyes.

"Just the work that he does at the back, his energy with the football, his skill game, the decisions that he takes, his positional play, all this was impeccable

"Even this test in the first minutes of the game, he almost … his effort around the ball in both games was

Meninga, who coached Slater at the state level and at the national level, said that the Star No 1 had a point to prove after overcoming injuries, and no one put more pressure than Billy Slater.

Darren Lockyer said that there was no more fair system and Slater was unlucky to miss the match man in Sydney.

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"He outperformed everyone in both games," Lockyer said.

"It may seem odd to people that he is the man of the series in a losing team, and he we have not chosen because he is there. man of the moment.

"We all put our points at stake independently of each other." He was the man of the match in the second game if Queensland won the match. "

Lockyer said that Tedesco, Trbojevic, Cordner and James Maloney also collected their share of the panel's points.

Daley told the listeners who flooded the airwaves "I can understand why people are disappointed and exploded this morning when Billy Slater received the Wally Lewis Medal. "

" I can understand the frustration of NSW supporters because we want NSW.

"But that's why Rugby League is so good, it's a matter of opinion and it's about following and supporting your team … Some people thought that Damien Cook could have been the player of the series, some thought that James Tedesco could have been a player of the series.

"It's based on the opinion and everyone has his opinion on who should be the player of the series. I'm happy with my selections. "

Blues coach Brad Fittler did not blame Slater for the award on Wednesday night, but supported Tom Trbojevic