Bowen named player's player
NORTH Queensland fullback Matt Bowen was awarded the 2007 Rugby League Professionals Association's Player of the Year Medal in front of a gathering of more than 200 players and partners at a gala luncheon at Randwick Racecourse today.
Test Skipper Darren Lockyer took out the Australian Representative Player of the Year, Krisnan Inu the New Zealand Representative Player and Penrith's Michael Jennings the Rookie of the Year.
Canberra's Allan Tongue was named clubman of the year and Panthers hooker Luke Priddis awarded the Education and Welfare award.
Bowen beat off challenges from team-mate Johnathan Thurston, Gold Coast skipper Scott Prince, New Zealand Warriors captain Steve Price, Newcastle's Kurt Gidley and Brisbane's Petero Civoniceva.
The award is voted by players after each match of the season with RLPA delegates conducting a team vote of the best players in the opposition team on a 3-2-1 basis.
The votes are sealed and then counted at the end of each season.
RLPA chief executive Matt Rodwell said the award was cherished by players because it was an acknowledgement by their peers of form week in and week out throughout the year.
"This award holds an important place in the game and in the hearts of the players," he said.
"The players respect each of the various awards in the game but this is a sincere expression of how the guys who are out there each week rate one another on a match by match basis - and it means a lot to them."
