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"My pick for the Dally M": Matty Johns's surprise prediction for rugby league's biggest individual award
Sam Kosack • February 21st, 2025 4:01 pm
Matty Johns has declared Addin Fonua-Blake will win the Dally M medal in 2025, but it will take more than the inclusion of the prop to get Cronulla to their second premiership.
Fonua-Blake joins the Sharks this season after four seasons at the New Zealand Warriors where he won the Dally M Prop of the Year award in 2023 and 2024.
Johns, speaking on Morning Glory with Matty Johns, praised the inclusion of the Tongan international, predicting the prop will be the best player in this season’s competition.
“He’s (Fonua-Blake) my pick for the Dally M medal, I think he’s incredible,” Johns said of the Sharks’ new prop.
“You just see what he’s gonna bring to that side.
“My young bloke, Cooper, who’s very tight with Nicho Hynes, Nicho said to him ‘I cannot believe what a smart footballer he is. Tactically how he talks to the team, the way he communicates, his decision making with the football.
“He’s going to be exceptional.”
Should Fonua-Blake receive the game's highest individual award, he would be the first prop to win the Dally M medal.
The Sharks fell one game short of a grand final in 2024, losing to the Panthers 26-6 in the preliminary final.
Despite the momentous season Johns expects from Fonua-Blake, he thinks the Sharks require more than his inclusion to win their second premiership in club history and overcome the four-time premiers.
“I liked what I saw in the Sharks, I just want to see a little bit more in them,” Johns said.
“They're going to get a lot of improvement anyway from Fonua-Blake, but I’d like him to be the icing on top.
“When I watched the Sharks in that trial game, I thought they’re picking up where they left off. I don’t want to see that in a side when I sit down to watch a side for the first time when they start a new season. I want to see them and go ‘Oh man, they've added that to their game, they've gotten better in this area’.
“I think sometimes with Nicho (Hynes) and Braydon Trindall, they can get into a certain rhythm about how they attack the defence. I think they've got to mix it up a bit more.
“I just want to see a little bit more from their football.”
Cronulla have their first chance to show their off-season development against the Panthers in Las Vegas on March 2, with full commentary for all Vegas games on SEN 1170.
