RLIF Awards

The RLIF Awards are the Rugby League International Federation's annual major international sporting award for rugby league. Since 2004 the awards ceremony recognises the best referee, coach, developing nations player, international newcomer, captain and a team of the year.

In 2007, the RLIF did not organise any awards. To fill the gap, Rugby League World magazine asked its Golden Boot panel to come up with winners in the existing categories used by the RLIF.

Coinciding with the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, the RLIF Awards were rebranded and the old award system was replaced.^[1]

Player of the Year

Described as rugby league's most prestigious individual honour,^[2] the International Player of the Year award is given to the world’s best player^[3] as voted upon by an international judging panel comprising journalists, broadcasters and former international players drawn from both the northern and southern hemispheres.^[4]

Year	Player	Club	National team	Ref
2008	Billy Slater	Melbourne Storm	Australia	[5]
2009	Jarryd Hayne	Parramatta Eels	Australia	[6]
2010	Todd Carney	Sydney Roosters	Australia	[7]
2011	Billy Slater	Melbourne Storm	Australia	[8]
2012	Cameron Smith	Melbourne Storm	Australia	[9]
2013	Sonny Bill Williams	Sydney Roosters	New Zealand	[10]
2014	Sam Burgess	South Sydney Rabbitohs	England	[11]

Coach of the Year

Year	Name	Club	Representative team	Ref
2004	Brian Noble	Bradford Bulls	Great Britain	[12]
2005	Wayne Bennett	Brisbane Broncos	Australia
2006	Brian McClennan		New Zealand
2007	Tony Smith	Leeds Rhinos	Great Britain
2008	Des Hasler	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles		[5]
2009	Craig Bellamy	Melbourne Storm	New South Wales Blues	[6]
2010	Wayne Bennett	St. George Illawarra Dragons		[7]
2011	Des Hasler	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles		[8]
2012	Craig Bellamy	Melbourne Storm		[9]
2013	Trent Robinson	Sydney Roosters		[10]
2014	Michael Maguire	South Sydney Rabbitohs

Rookie of the Year

Year	Player	Club	National team	Ref
2008	Israel Folau	Melbourne Storm	Australia	[5]
2009	Ryan Hall	Leeds Rhinos	England	[6]
2010	Sam Tomkins	Wigan Warriors	England	[7]
2011	Jharal Yow Yeh	Brisbane Broncos	Australia	[8]
2012	Shaun Johnson	New Zealand Warriors	New Zealand	[9]
2013	George Burgess	South Sydney Rabbitohs	England	[10]

Referee of the Year

Year	Name	Competition	Major appointments	Ref
2004	Russell Smith	Super League, Challenge Cup	Tri-Nations	[12]
2005	Tim Mander	National Rugby League	State of Origin, NRL Grand Final, European Nations Cup, Tri-Nations
2006	Ashley Klein	Super League, Challenge Cup	Anzac Test, Tri-Nations
2007	Tony Archer	National Rugby League	NRL Grand Final, All Golds Tour
2008	Tony Archer	National Rugby League	State of Origin, NRL Grand Final, World Cup	[5]
2009	Shayne Hayne	National Rugby League	City vs Country Origin, State of Origin, NRL Grand Final, European Cup, Four Nations	[6]
2010	Tony Archer	National Rugby League	State of Origin, NRL Grand Final, Four Nations	[7]
	Richard Silverwood	Super League, Challenge Cup	World Club Challenge, Anzac Test, Challenge Cup Grand Final, Super League Grand Final, Four Nations
2011	Tony Archer	National Rugby League	State of Origin, NRL Grand Final	[8]
2012	Ben Cummins	National Rugby League	State of Origin, NRL Grand Final, Australia vs New Zealand Test match	[9]
2013	Ben Cummins	National Rugby League	State of Origin, NRL Grand Final, World Cup	[10]

Spirit of Rugby League Award

Year	Recipient	Ref
2008	Paul Barriere	[5]
2009	Ken Arthurson	[6]
2010	Ron McGregor	[7]
2011	David Oxley CBE	[12]
2013	Maurice Oldroyd	[10]
2014	Peter Corcoran	[11]

Team of the Year

2008^[5]

Position	Player	Club	National team
Fullback	Billy Slater	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Wing	Manu Vatuvei	New Zealand Warriors	New Zealand
Centre	Israel Folau	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Five-eighth/Stand-off	Greg Inglis	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Halfback/Scrum-half	Scott Prince	Gold Coast Titans	Australia
Prop	James Graham	St. Helens	England
Hooker	Cameron Smith	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Second-row	Gareth Ellis	Leeds Rhinos	England
	Anthony Laffranchi	Gold Coast Titans	Australia
Lock/Loose forward	Paul Gallen	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Australia

2009^[6]

Position	Player	Club	National team
Fullback	Jarryd Hayne	Parramatta Eels	Australia
Wing	Ryan Hall	Leeds Rhinos	England
Centre	Greg Inglis	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Five-eighth/Stand-off	Benji Marshall	Wests Tigers	New Zealand
Halfback/Scrum-half	Johnathan Thurston	North Queensland Cowboys	Australia
Prop	Fuifui Moimoi	Parramatta Eels	New Zealand
Hooker	Cameron Smith	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Second-row	Gareth Ellis	Wests Tigers	England
Lock/Loose forward	Kevin Sinfield	Leeds Rhinos	England

2010^[7]

Position	Player	Club	National team
Fullback	Darius Boyd	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Australia
Wing	Pat Richards	Wigan Warriors
Centre	Shaun Kenny-Dowall	Sydney Roosters	New Zealand
Five-eighth/Stand-off	Todd Carney	Sydney Roosters	Australia
Halfback/Scrum-half	Scott Prince	Gold Coast Titans
Prop	Adrian Morley	Warrington Wolves	England
Hooker	Robbie Farah	Wests Tigers	Australia
Second-row	Gareth Ellis	Wests Tigers	England
Lock/Loose forward	Luke Lewis	Penrith Panthers	Australia

2011^[8]

Position	Player	Club	National team
Fullback	Billy Slater	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Wing	Akuila Uate	Newcastle Knights	Australia
Centre	Jamie Lyon	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Five-eighth/Stand-off	Benji Marshall	Wests Tigers	New Zealand
Halfback/Scrum-half	Daly Cherry-Evans	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Australia
Prop	Matthew Scott	North Queensland Cowboys	Australia
Hooker	Cameron Smith[12]	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Second-row	Sam Thaiday	Brisbane Broncos	Australia
Lock/Loose forward	Paul Gallen	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Australia

2012^[9]

Position	Player	Club	National team
Fullback	Ben Barba	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Wing	Ryan Hall	Leeds Rhinos	England
Centre	Jamie Lyon	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Five-eighth/Stand-off	Johnathan Thurston	North Queensland Cowboys	Australia
Halfback/Scrum-half	Cooper Cronk	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Prop	James Graham	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Hooker	Cameron Smith	Melbourne Storm	Australia
Second-row	Nate Myles	Gold Coast Titans	Australia
Lock/Loose forward	Paul Gallen	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Australia

2013^[10]

Position	Player	Club	National team
Fullback	Greg Inglis	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Australia
Wing	Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	Sydney Roosters	New Zealand
Centre	Jamie Lyon	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Five-eighth/Stand-off	Danny Brough	Huddersfield Giants	Scotland
Halfback/Scrum-half	Daly Cherry-Evans	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Australia
Prop	Sam Burgess	South Sydney Rabbitohs	England
Hooker	Issac Luke	South Sydney Rabbitohs	New Zealand
Second-row	Sonny Bill Williams	Sydney Roosters	New Zealand
Lock/Loose forward	Corey Parker	Brisbane Broncos	Australia

Nations' Players of the Year

	2008[5]	2009[6]	2011[8]	2012[9]	2014[11]
Canada			Matt Wyles	Tony Felix	Steve Piatek
Cook Islands	Adam Watene	Karl Temata	Tinirau Arona	Tinirau Arona	Dominique Peyroux
Czech Republic		Josef Kučera	Jan Buben	David Lahr
Estonia		Alex Janov
Fiji	Ashton Sims	Jarryd Hayne	Wes Naiqama	Sisa Waqa	Semi Radradra
France		Olivier Elima	Rémi Casty	Vincent Duport	Rémi Casty
Germany		Jimmy Keinhorst	Thomas Isaak	Mawuli Améfia
Ireland		Damien Blanch	Liam Finn	Tim Bergin	Liam Finn
Italy		Giovanni Franchi	Matteo Rossi	Fabrizio Ciaurro
Jamaica		Roy Calvert	Tyronie Rowe	Fabion Turner	Nathan Campbell
Japan		Hiroshi Miyazak	Keisuke Kinoshita	Noriyuki Tainaka
Latvia		Kristaps Jakushs
Lebanon	George Ndaira	Ramy Rassi	Walid Yassine	Danny Barakat	Chris Saab
Malta			Clifford Debattista	Clifford Debattista
Morocco				Souhail Ait Alla
Papua New Guinea	Paul Aiton	David Mead		Dion Aiye	Israel Eliab
Russia		Nikolay Zagoskin	Eduard Ososkov	Sergey Konstantinov	Kirill Kosharin
Samoa		Kylie Leuluai	George Carmont	Tony Puletua	David Fa'alogo
Scotland		Iain Morrison	Dale Ferguson	John Duffy	Matty Russell
Serbia		Soni Radovanović	Dalibor Vukanović	Stefan Nedeljković	Stefan Nedeljković
South Africa		Andre Loader	Deon Kraemer	Stevie Meyer	Ruaan du Preez
Sweden			Alexander Rappestad	Tobias Rorstam
Tonga	Michael Jennings	Richard Faʻaoso	Feleti Mateo	Brent Kite	Jason Taumalolo
Ukraine		Mikhail Troyan	Vladimir Mashkin		Oleksandr Skorbach
United States	Greg Stelluti	Siose Muliumu	Apple Pope	Michael Garvey	Joseph Paulo
Wales		Jordan James	Lloyd White	Rhodri Lloyd	Rhys Evans

Awards No Longer Presented

International Newcomer of the Year

• 2004 Sonny Bill Williams, New Zealand
• 2005 Manu Vatuvei, New Zealand
• 2006 Greg Inglis, Australia
• 2007 Israel Folau, Australia (awarded by Rugby League World)

Developing Nations Player of the Year

• 2004 Jamal Fakir, France
• 2005 Jamal Fakir, France
• 2006 Wes Naiqama, Fiji
• 2007 George Ndaira, Lebanon (awarded by Rugby League World)

International Back of the Year

• 2004 Darren Lockyer, Australia
• 2005 Anthony Minichiello, Australia
• 2006 Darren Lockyer, Australia
• 2007 Johnathan Thurston, Australia (awarded by Rugby League World)

International Forward of the Year

• 2004 Andrew Farrell, England
• 2005 Stuart Fielden, England
• 2006 Jamie Peacock, England
• 2007 Jamie Peacock, England (awarded by Rugby League World)

See also

• Rugby League World Golden Boot Award
• Rugby League International Federation