Darren Lockyer - Your Player of the Year
by
Sunday September 21, 2003

Brisbane Broncos fullback Darren Lockyer has landed his sixth BroncoNet Player of the Year award, and fourth consecutively, winning the overall gong by a whopping 23 points from prop Shane Webcke.

Lockyer, who missed several games through injury in the lead up to the finals, polled strongly all season, particularly in the People's Choice award, scoring a remarkable 38 points. This follows his previous triumphs in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Much maligned halfback Shaun Berrigan finished equal second in the People's Choice award with Casey McGuire on 22 points.  Shane Webcke was a distant fourth on 13.

In the BroncoNet Team Award, voted by the writers and administrators of BroncoNet, Shane Webcke came out on top with 19 votes, 2 clear of Darren Lockyer on 17.  Skipper Gorden Tallis finished third in the Team Award with 13, with young buck Corey Parker fourth on 12. It was Webcke's second BroncoNet Team award having also taken the award in 2001.

The Broncos' leading point and tryscorer for 2003, Michael De Vere, finished surprisingly low on both tallies. He finished fifth in the BroncoNet Team award with 10 points, and sixth in the people's choice on 8.

The annual awards, which have been run on BroncoNet since 1997, have been extremely popular.  The People's Choice Award is voted by all visitors to the site through the match reports each week, while the BroncoNet Team Award is voted only by those who maintain the site.  Everybody votes on a 3-2-1 basis, and the top three two weeks after the game finishes earn the 3-2-1 points towards the end of season tally.

BroncoNet thanks all those who voted in 2003 for their involvement and look forward to your continuing support in 2004!