Why Andrew Voss wants to "blow up" the Dally M system

SEN’s Andrew Voss has slammed the Dally M voting system, declaring the NRL must “blow it up” after the judge’s votes from Round 2 were revealed yesterday.

The Dally M system has long attracted criticism, with the NRL altering the process at the beginning of the 2023 season to have two judges hand out 3-2-1 votes, allowing a player to earn a maximum of six points per game.

Warriors’ prop Jackson Ford currently leads the Dally M voting after two rounds, earning the maximum possible 12 votes across the first two rounds.

However, Voss’s outrage was centred around the voting from the Sea Eagles vs Knights match on Sunday.

Knights’ playmaker Dylan Brown collected four votes, while Tyson Frizell (3), Dom Young (2), Haumole Olakau'atu (2), and Bradman Best (1), also got among the votes.

The decision to award Dylan Brown and Tyson Frizell man of the match honours was unbelievable to Voss, leading to him calling for an overhaul of the system.

“Blow up the Dally Ms, blow them up,” Voss said on SEN 1170 Mornings.

“The system is broken… the system does not work.

“I want to present a case around the Manly game.

“Newcastle (were) totally dominant against Manly. There's no question of that. If you broke down the 80 minutes, Manly probably on top for 10 of those 80 minutes, I'd reckon.

“If I'm the NRL… I reject the votes from this game. I don't care whether it was a 300-gamer, a former player or whoever, I would go back and say ‘no, we're not accepting these votes, they're not going to print, because this is an embarrassment’.

“Here's Haumole Olakau'atu’s stats. Seven runs for 67 metres, two touches of the ball in the second half, one was a dropped ball, three tackle busts, 28 tackles.

“Now he's voted the 2nd best player on the field… five of the Newcastle forwards more than doubled that tally of involvement. Doubled the metre running, had the equivalent or more tackle busts, and had more tackles.

“That's outrageous.

“In the Manly side alone, you break down the game… it was so obvious the other day, Manly went left more than they went right, and that's backed up by the numbers.

“Ben Trbojevic, the fellow back row of Haumole Olakau'atu, who was voted the second-best player on the field, (had) 14 runs, so double what Haumole had.

“138 metres, more than double the metres Haumole ran. He had one tackle bust, Haumole had 3 but Ben had 3 offloads, he made more tackles.

“Now we'll go on to Newcastle… Tyson's (Frizell) a terrific bloke but I reckon what's happened here, the judges say, ‘when Tom (Trbojevic) dropped the ball, Tyson scored a try off a bomb.

“Tyson Frizell against his own fellow forwards had 10 runs for 92 metres, and he's voted the best player on the field.

“Trey Mooney had the best game of his career the other day: 17 runs, had 5 offloads in his 50 minutes and 26 tackles. That's superb figures for a front rower.

“Dylan Lucas on the edge, 14 runs for 124 metres, three tackle busts, 30 tackles, played all 80 minutes.

“Jermaine McEwen, this young back rower, 14 runs, 104 metres, played all 80 (minutes), 28 tackles.

“Jacob Saifiti went well, 12 runs, 122 metres, 27 tackles. Mat Croker, who started the game, 14 runs, 24 tackles, played 60 minutes of the match.

“How out of order can I get? What are you smoking? What do I say to that?

“The Olakau'atu one, it's not a fair go to Newcastle. It's not a fair go to rugby league fans. We're being treated like absolute mushrooms if we just stand by this voting.

“It's no fault of the player.

“That is embarrassing. Blow it up.”