Sydney Roosters' second-rower Olivia Kernick has taken out the 2024 NRLW Dally M Medal in what was a tight race.
Abbi Church of the Parramatta Eels finished in second spot just two votes back.
Kernick, who played all nine regular season games for the tri-colours before helping her side to win a semi-final the weekend just gone.
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When voting went behind closed doors after four rounds, Gold Coast Titans halfback Lauren Brown led the count on 12 votes.
By her own admission, she was less that confident of hanging onto the awards, suggesting she would lost top spot quickly once the counted kicked off on Wednesday evening.
Abbi Church of the Parramatta Eels, Brooke Anderson of the Cronulla Sharks and Simaima Taufa of the Canberra Raiders were all two votes back after Round 4, with Olivia Kernick of the Sydney Roosters next, while the 2023 winner Tamika Upton was nowhere to be seen on the leaderboard.
Brown, despite her concerns, polled six votes in Round 5 to extend her lead at the top of the board, and it was a lead that remained in place after Round 6 with another two votes. Simaima Taufa and Tarryn Aiken were the two closest at the end of Round 6, still 6 votes off the pace.
Upton would poll a full six votes during Round 7 to move into the mix, while Kernick managed to move within four votes, but with distance to make up over the final two rounds. Church, Aiken and Taufa were all six votes off the pace with two rounds remaining.
In Round 8, a number of players inside the top ten polled, with Church securing five votes, and Kernick six. That left the Roosters' star two votes in the lead ahead of Brown, and three ahead of Church with a round to play, while Taufa was also in contention six votes back.
Brown's injury in Round 9 means she was unable to poll any votes, while Taufa was also knocked out by polling a single vote.
Kernick polled zero votes in the final game of the season against Parramatta, while Church only polled a single vote, leaving Kernick as the 2024 NRLW Dally M Medallist by two votes ahead of Church.
