Johnathan Thurston and Jarryd Hayne were crowned the first-ever dual winners of the Dally M Medal, the Australian National Rugby League's highest individual honour, on Monday.
For North Queensland's Test stand-off Thurston it was his third Dally M triumph to emulate Andrew Johns as the only players to win three Dally M Awards as the best player of the season.
It was the second time Hayne has won the major award after the Parramatta superstar was also crowned the game's best player in 2009.
Thurston and Hayne finished the 26 NRL regular rounds on 32 points - three points ahead of third-placed English forward Sam Burgess of South Sydney.
Another Englishman, Gareth Widdop of St George Illawarra, finished one point behind Burgess in fourth spot on 28 points.
Thurston was also named NRL stand-off of the year and he also finished top point-scorer for the season with 208 points.
He paid tribute to Hayne and said he was humbled to win three Dally M awards alongside Test scrum-half great Johns.
"Obviously Haynesy has had a great year, congratulations to the big fella. Hopefully I'll play alongside him over next few weeks (for Australia)," Thurston said.
Hayne said he was proud to be standing alongside Thurston as the medal winner.
"It's a huge honour and I consider myself very lucky to even be next to Thurston," he said.
Hayne took Best Representative Player for his influential role for New South Wales in their breakthrough State of Origin triumph over Queensland this year.
He was also named fullback of the year and top try-scorer for 2014, with 20.
Ivan Cleary was named coach of the year for taking the Penrith Panthers to within one match of the NRL grand final.
Source: AFP
