St George Illawarra prop Leeson Ah Mau has capped a breakout season in the top grade by picking up the Dragons Player of the Year gong in Wollongong on Sunday.
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After playing most of the 2015 season as an edge back-rower Ah Mau made a fine fist of a shift into the front row, playing in all 25 games for the Dragons this season – the only player to achieve the feat.
The 25-year-old Samoan International averaged 106 metres and 22 tackles per game in a season in which he chalked up his 100th first grade game and earned an upgraded three-year deal that will keep him at the club until the end of 2018.
He will likely form one of the NRL’s most formidable front-row duos next year with former prison inmate Russell Packer who was named the Illawarra Cutters player of the year.
Packer’s standout form in the NSW Cup in his first season back following a stint in jail bodes well for his return to the NRL next season alongside the likes of Mose Masoe and Dunamis Lui in a beefed up Dragons forward pack.
For the second straight season, five-eighth Gareth Widdop was both the club’s highest points scorer – with nine tries in his 182 points – and the Red V members pick for player of the year.
Fullback Josh Dugan was awarded the Dragons Immortals Trophy for the second straight year while Tyson Frizell was Paul McGregor’s choice for the coach’s award.
