They couldn't be separated when the votes were tallied in the Paul McGregor Medal but joint winners Sam Clune and Blake Phillips will look back on two very different 2014 seasons.

For Thirroul fullback Clune it's a long way from that day in February where he arrived early to training asking himself why he kept coming back to the game that wasn't showing him much love in return.

"I remember I got to a training run and coming off the back of the last couple of years I sat in my car for a couple of minutes and thought 'Do I even really want to play footy again?'," Clune recalled.

"Footy's always been a dream for me but I had a lot of doubts in myself. I was in the car and rang mum and she said 'Just go out there and have fun' and that's what I did ... I just enjoyed my footy."

His season ended with a Country Championship title, a premiership with Thirroul and now the competition's top individual honour.

After nearly being lost to the game at just 22 following a couple of injury-riddled seasons with the Dragons U20s, Clune said he rediscovered the ability he always felt he had.

"I took a few risks and got out of my comfort zone and tried something new at fullback and it just seemed to work for me. I found a role in the team that I was comfortable playing and tried to do it every weekend and that worked for us."

Clune's Illawarra rep teammate, the tough as nails Tigers back-rower Phillips was certainly no less deserving of the honour.

Phillips polled strongly from the opening round, undoubtedly emerging as the competition's best week-in week-out performer. It provides some solace for Phillips who was a stunning omission from the Country squad mid-season despite stand-out performances for Illawarra and suffered his second straight grand final defeat with the Tigers.

"Ultimately the grand final's what you want but it's a great reward for the year on a personal note," he said.

"I didn't really think about too much through the year, I just played week to week thinking about the team really. [Teammates] Grant Smith and Eamon [Hillen] picked up plenty of points as well so it shows we had a pretty good year.

That's how we all play."