The most prized individual honours in Queensland rugby have tonight crowned two first-time winners for their standout form during the 2024 season.
Wallabies flanker Fraser McReight was named the Pilecki Medal winner as the Queensland Reds’ best during Super Rugby Pacific.
It was a night to pay kudos to the fine work of openside flankers. Carola Kreis was named the Shannon Parry Medal winner as the Reds’ best for the Buildcorp Super Rugby Women’s season.
Both medals are awarded on the 3-2-1 votes of the 23 players involved in each game. It is the ultimate gong for excellence from your peers.
McReight tallied 257 votes to shade “Captain Consistency” Liam Wright (238) and centre Hunter Paisami (207), another to have a striking year.
It was a measure of the spread of quality in the ranks in 2023 that nine different Reds players won Man of the Match mugs in the 15 games.
McReight won three at home in front of his most raucous fans at Suncorp Stadium. His big opening round performance in the victory over the NSW Waratahs jumped him into an early lead in Pilecki Medal voting.
It was another sign of McReight’s exceptional season that he won even when missing two games because of suspension.
Across the whole Super Rugby Pacific competition, he finished Top 10 for ball carries and successful tackles.
That’s before ranking him as the elite figure for jackal turnovers in the competition, a deft linkman and a seven-try force.
It was during his absence mid-season that Paisami made up huge ground in the voting to take the lead after Round 10, the Anzac Weekend Round in April.
Paisami was atop the progressive voting for three rounds late in the season but a Man of the Match effort against the Western Force in the final regular season round swung the Pilecki Medal to McReight.
The votes were progressively unveiled and the medals awarded tonight at a gala function for nearly 300 at The Warehouse in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
It continues a rich run of form from McReight, who was named Australia’s 2023 Player of the Year in Super Rugby Pacific.
He joins an elite group of openside flankers to have won the Pilecki Medal since it was introduced in 1992. It recognises the late Stan Pilecki, a wonderful figure in Queensland rugby’s history as the first player to play 100 games for his state.
David Croft (2007-08), Liam Gill (2015-16) and George Smith (2017) are the previous openside flankers to win the Pilecki Medal.
The Shannon Parry Medal is creating fresh history. It is just the second year in which it has been presented after being named in honour of the former Reds and Wallaroos captain Shannon Parry, the inaugural winner in 2023.
Super Rugby Women’s is a sprint and Kreis (pronounced Krice) was a standout for her consistency with votes earned in all five games.
She polled 141 votes for her relentless presence around the ball, her tackling and support play in an often-beaten pack.
Teenaged talent Shalom Sauaso, the Year 12 schoolgirl who debuted in the backs at just 16, won the Player of the Match award against the Melbourne Rebels. She scored two tries that day when blasting through five defenders for the opener was memorable.
She finished second on 95 points ahead of winger Caitlin Urwin (76), winger Ivania Wong (75), fullback Lori Cramer (53) and hooker Tiarna Molloy (53).
