Wests Tigers teammates John Bateman and Jahream Bula have both been nominated for the prestigious 2023 Golden Boot Award, following the recent Pacific Championships and England-Tonga test series.
The IRL Golden Boot is awarded to the best player in rugby league internationals each year and is judged by a panel of test greats comprising Darren Lockyer (Australia), Adrian Morley (England), Ruben Wiki (New Zealand), James Graham (England) and Adam Blair (New Zealand).
Bateman played consistently well throughout the three-match series against Tonga, and was voted man of the match in the final game at Headingly which secured a clean-sweep for the hosts.
Bula was also the everywhere man for Fiji in the Pacific Championships looking anything but out of place on the international stage.
His international debut against the Cook Islands was simply outstanding, scoring a try and chalking up some impressive numbers on the back of a stellar first season in the NRL.
Bateman is one of four England players on the 20-strong list of nominees, while Bula is joined by Fiji teammate Tui Kamikamica.
New Zealand is quite rightly the best represented nation with five players in contention following their demolition of Australia in the Pacific Cup final, headlined by fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, and halfback Jahrome Hughes.
Only one Wests Tigers player has ever been awarded the Gold Boot, and that was current head coach Benji Marshall in 2010.
Men's 2023 Golden Boot Nominees:
Matty Ashton (England)
John Bateman (England)
Jahream Bula (Fiji)
Su’a Faalogo (Samoa)
James Fisher-Harris (New Zealand)
Addin Fonua-Blake (Tonga)
Harry Grant (Australia)
Payne Haas (Australia)
Jahrome Hughes (New Zealand)
Edwin Ipape (Papua New Guinea)
Tui Kamikamica (Fiji)
Lachlan Lam (Papua New Guinea)
Mikey Lewis (England)
Esan Marsters (Cook Islands)
Ronaldo Mulitalo (New Zealand)
Cameron Murray (Australia)
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (New Zealand)
Harry Smith (England)
Hamiso Tabuia-Fidow (Australia)
Joey Tapine (New Zealand)
Previous IRL Golden Boot Winners:
1984 Wally Lewis (Australia)
1985 Brett Kenny (Australia)
1986 Garry Jack (Australia)
1971 Hugh McGahan (New Zealand)
and Peter Sterling (Australia)
1988 Ellery Hanley (England)
1989 Mal Meninga (Australia)
1992 Garry Schofield (England)
1991-98 No award given
1999 Andrew Johns (Australia)
2000 Brad Fittler (Australia)
2001 Andrew Johns (Australia)
2002 Stacey Jones (New Zealand)
2003 Darren Lockyer (Australia)
2004 Andrew Farrell (England)
2005 Anthony Minichiello (Australia)
2006 Darren Lockyer (Australia)
2007 Cameron Smith (Australia)
2008 Billy Slater (Australia)
2009 Greg Inglis (Australia)
2010 Benji Marshall (New Zealand)
2011 Johnathan Thurston (Australia)
2012 Kevin Sinfield (England)
2013 Johnathan Thurston (Australia)
2014 Shaun Johnson (New Zealand)
2015 Johnathan Thurston (Australia)
2016 Cooper Cronk (Australia)
2017 Cameron Smith (Australia)
2018 Tommy Makinson (England)
2019 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (New Zealand)
2020 No award given
2021 No award given
2022 Joey Manu (New Zealand)
Short lists for the men’s, women’s and wheelchair 2023 IRL Golden Boot awards will be announced after the second wheelchair international between last year’s World Cup winners England and runners-up France in Carcassonne on November 25.
The winners of the 2023 IRL Golden Boot awards will be announced in early December.
