Beale the real deal for an Eales medal
KURTLEY Beale’s incredible form for Australia since returning from England has rocketed him into contention for a second John Eales medal – despite missing over half the games in the voting period.
Beale is among the top seven players vying for Australia’s highest individual award, which will be given out at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night. The other contenders are Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley, Sean McMahon, Dane Haylett-Petty and Tevita Kuridrani.
Hooper and Folau are two of the hot favourites and if either claim the John Eales medal, they would be the first three-time winner.
For Beale to be in the running for a second John Eales medal – he won in 2011 – is remarkable. The eligible voting period started on the Wallabies’ Spring Tour last year and spans 15 Test matches.
Players give out 3-2-1 votes after every Test.
Beale was injured in England for the five Spring Tour Tests last year and also didn’t play in the three Wallabies Tests in June, meaning he could only accrue votes in seven of the 15 games.
The No.12 was a star performer for Australia in each of those seven games, however, and won back-to-back man-ofthe-match awards in September, against South Africa in Perth and Argentina in Canberra.
Wallabies backs coach Stephen Larkham said at the time: “I think the guys outside the inside backs are now appreciating the fact there’s a distributor there, someone with really good vision but also some attacking flair so he’s created a lot of opportunities on his own. We couldn’t be happier with the way that he’s performed so far.”
Beale’s chances of storming home are offset by the consistent excellence of Hooper, who is routinely in the Wallabies’ best three players, and the fact Folau also struck superb form in 2017 with a Wallaby record 12 tries. Foley may be the smoky of the pack, however, having also been ultra-consistent in the No.10 and routinely influential, whether it be in setting up tries or off the boot.
McMahon is another who will likely poll well and Haylett-Petty has also done well.
The Wallabies’ rookie of the year will be hotly contested, with 13 players making Test debuts for Australia since last November.