Samu Kerevi has claimed back-to-back Pilecki Medals after being voted by his teammates as the Reds’ best player in 2019.<\/p>\n
Kerevi won the top award which is named after the late legendary Queensland prop Stan Pilecki, the first man to win 100 caps for the Reds.<\/p>\n
Kerevi, who captained the Reds in 2019, polled 301 total votes across 15 games, edging out Liam Wright (228 votes) and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (200 votes) in third.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old was not only Queensland\u2019s most damaging ball-runner, but arguably Super Rugby\u2019s too after finishing the regular season as the competition\u2019s leading player with most carries (220) and defenders beaten (71), as well as finishing equal 4th in clean line breaks (26) and the 8th best for most metres carried (861).<\/p>\n
The award was presented at the Reds\u2019 end of season dinner, held at Blackbird Bar and Grill in Brisbane, where the team recognised a number of achievements \u2013 including 11 debutants, Scott Higginbotham\u2019s 100th Queensland cap and the contributions of all departing players.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reds coach Brad Thorn said Kerevi’s win was deserved recognition for a standout year.<\/p>\n
“To be voted as the best player and acknowledged by your teammates is the greatest honour a player can have,” Thorn said. <\/p>\n
“He took on the captaincy this year and thrived in the role. He has grown as a man both on-and-off the field.<\/p>\n
“His presence and communication with players and staff has been something to admire.”<\/p>\n
Along with the Pilecki Medal, the Reds presented two other awards, with Jock Campbell named Rookie of the Year and Teti Tela recognised as best displaying the Spirit of the Reds.<\/p>\n
“We were really impressed with Jock Campbell this year,” Thorn said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“At 24, it was good to see a man from club rugby and NRC with Queensland Country come into our program.<\/p>\n
“He was rewarded for his hard work when he made his Queensland debut against the Bulls in Pretoria.<\/p>\n
“Jock played the remaining nine games for us and grew in confidence each match. As a group, we congratulate Jock on this achievement.”<\/p>\n
Tela did not play any Super Rugby minutes this season but Thorn admired the way he had gone about his business and put in the hard work all year.<\/p>\n
“He sat on the bench and prepared with the team on game-day but unfortunately didn\u2019t play any minutes this season. He carried himself well during those challenging times,” Thorn said.<\/p>\n
“He put the team first and pushed others around him to be their best. The Spirit of the Reds acknowledges someone who displays these characteristics in our team and Teti did that this season.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pilecki Medal:<\/strong> Samu Kerevi<\/p>\n Rookie of the Year: <\/strong>Jock Campbell<\/p>\n Spirit of the Reds<\/strong>: Teti Tela<\/p>\n 2019 Pilecki Medal Top 10<\/strong><\/p>\n Samu Kerevi (301 votes)<\/p>\n Liam Wright (228 votes)<\/p>\n Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (200 votes)<\/p>\n Scott Higginbotham (198 votes)<\/p>\n Alex Mafi (133 votes)<\/p>\n Chris Feauai-Sautia (126 votes)<\/p>\n Izack Rodda (113 votes)<\/p>\n Taniela Tupou (95 votes)<\/p>\n Jock Campbell (95 votes)<\/p>\n Bryce Hegarty (89 votes)<\/p>\n Pilecki Medal History<\/strong><\/p>\n 2019 \u2013 Samu Kerevi (301 votes)<\/p>\n 2018 \u2013 Samu Kerevi (191 votes)<\/p>\n 2017 \u2013 George Smith (278 votes)<\/p>\n 2016 \u2013 Liam Gill (282 votes)<\/p>\n 2015 \u2013 Liam Gill (420 votes)<\/p>\n 2014 \u2013 James Slipper (239 votes)<\/p>\n 2013 \u2013 Jake Schatz (269 votes)<\/p>\n 2012 \u2013 James Slipper (272 votes)<\/p>\n 2011 \u2013 Will Genia (263 votes)<\/p>\n 2010 \u2013 Will Genia (209 votes)<\/p>\n 2009 \u2013 Digby Ioane (253 votes)<\/p>\n 2008 \u2013 David Croft (195 votes)<\/p>\n 2007 \u2013 David Croft (188 votes)<\/p>\n 2006 \u2013 Rodney Blake (186 votes)<\/p>\n 2005 \u2013 Nathan Sharpe<\/p>\n 2004 \u2013 Chris Latham<\/p>\n 2003 \u2013 Julian Huxley<\/p>\n 2002 \u2013 Chris Latham<\/p>\n 2001 \u2013 Toutai Kefu<\/p>\n 2000 \u2013 Chris Latham<\/p>\n 1999 \u2013 Chris Latham<\/p>\n 1998 \u2013 Daniel Herbert<\/p>\n 1997 \u2013 John Eales<\/p>\n 1996 \u2013 Jason Little<\/p>\n 1995 \u2013 Jason Little<\/p>\n 1994 \u2013 Matthew Pini<\/p>\n 1993 \u2013 Rod McCall<\/p>\n 1992 \u2013 Peter Slattery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Samu Kerevi has claimed back-to-back Pilecki Medals after being voted by his teammates as the Reds’ best player in 2019. Kerevi won the top award which is named after the late legendary Queensland prop Stan Pilecki, the first man to win 100 caps for the Reds. Kerevi, who captained the Reds in 2019, polled 301…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}