If the bookies ae correct, Nathan Cleary stands to become the first player to win the Clive Churchill Medal two years in a row this Sunday. Only two players have won the Medal twice since its inception in 1986: Brad Clyde and Billy Slater.

South Sydney fullback Clive Churchill was named one of the game’s first four Immortals in 1981, and sadly passed away in 1985. The following year the administration commissioned a medal to be awarded to the best player in the grand final, in recognition of Churchill’s monumental contribution to the game. Parramatta halfback Peter Sterling was awarded the inaugural medal after the Eels scraped home 4-2 against Canterbury.

The player of the match award has been a part of the game for decades, and in 2008 the National Rugby League decided to retrospectively award the medal to the best player in the grand final from 1954 to 1985, with Churchill himself becoming the first recipient. Norm Provan was awarded the medal on three occasions.

Brad Clyde won the medal in 1989 as Canberra claimed its first premiership, and controversially won it a second time in 1991, despite the Raiders going down to Penrith.

In 1993, St George lock Brad Mackay became the second player to win the award despite being on the losing team. The effort was replicated by Daly Cherry-Evans in 2013 and Jack Wighton in 2019.

Several forwards have won the award, including David Furner, Willie Mason, Luke Priddis, Gorden Tallis and Craig Fitzgibbon; but since 2007 backs have dominated the list of winners, with only four forwards winning in the last 15 years. Halfbacks feature predominately on the list from Sterling in 1986 to Cleary last year. Ricky Stuart, Allan Langer, Geoff Toovey, Andrew Johns, Scott Prince, Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston have all been named the winners of the prestigious medal.

What does that say for 2022? Not much really. The judges will be looking for a whole-hearted performance such as that of Shaun Berrigan in 2006, Glenn Stewart in 2011 or Paul Dunn in 1988. Or they could be looking for the game breaker such as Thurston in 2015 or Ryan Papenhuyzen in 2020.

Whoever wins will join a list of some of the greatest players in the game, especially when the retrospective awards are taken into consideration. Names such as Arthur Beetson, Graham Eadie, Bob Fulton, John Raper, Graeme Langlands, Ron Coote, Steve Mortimer and Brett Kenny are among the names who were given the medal retrospectively based on the awards and news reports of their day.