This award is adjudged by journalists and former players on a game-to-game basis, where the top 3 players of the game are given 3, 2 or 1 points each.
The awarding of points goes behind closed doors to allow for the presentation ceremony to include the surprise of not knowing who is the overall winner until the end.
For a long time, this award was regarded as commencing in 1980. This was infact the second year of the award, but the first to include a ceremony. Steve Morris was officially recognised as the inaugural winner of the award in 2018.
| 1979 | Steve Morris |
| 1980 | Robert Laurie |
| 1981 | Steve Rogers |
| 1982 | Ray Price |
| 1983 | Terry Lamb |
| 1984 | Michael Potter |
| 1985 | Greg Alexander |
| 1986 | Peter Sterling |
| 1987 | Peter Sterling |
| 1988 | Gavin Miller |
| 1989 | Gavin Miller |
| 1990 | Cliff Lyons |
| 1991 | Michael Potter |
| 1992 | Gary Freeman |
| 1993 | Ricky Stuart |
| 1994 | Cliff Lyons |
| 1995 | Laurie Daley |
| 1996 | Allan Langer |
| 1998 | Andrew Johns |
| 1999 | Andrew Johns |
| 2000 | Trent Barrett |
| 2001 | Preston Campbell |
| 2002 | Andrew Johns |
| 2004 | Danny Buderus |
| 2005 | Johnathan Thurston |
| 2006 | Cameron Smith |
| 2007 | Johnathan Thurston |
| 2008 | Matt Orford |
| 2009 | Jarryd Hayne |
| 2010 | Todd Carney |
| 2011 | Billy Slater |
| 2012 | Ben Barba |
| 2013 | Cooper Cronk |
| 2014 | Johnathan Thurston |
| 2014 | Jarryd Hayne |
| 2015 | Johnathan Thurston |
| 2016 | Jason Taumalolo |
| 2016 | Cooper Cronk |
| 2017 | Cameron Smith |
| 2018 | Roger Tuivasa-Sheck |
| 2019 | James Tedesco |
| 2020 | Jack Wighton |
| 2021 | Tom Trbojevic |
| 2022 | Nicho Hynes |
| 2023 | Kalyn Ponga |