St George Illawarra captain, Yara Ryan has capped off a successful year, winning this year’s Jeremy Doyle Memorial Trophy.
The trophy honours one of the sport’s founders and is awarded to the player who is deemed the man of the match in the NSW Wheelchair Rugby League Grand Final.
Mr Doyle, who also represented Australia in Wheelchair Basketball, died of cancer in 2011.
Ryan, was selected by a panel of Rugby League officials including NRL Head of Football Operations, Todd Greenberg and NRL Participation Manager, Martin Meredith who were both in attendance.
Ryan in receiving the “JD” Trophy paid tribute to Mr Doyle.
“JD was a great man and a friend that brought me along to play this sport”, Ryan said.
In July last year, Ryan represented Australia in the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup and was named by his peers as the man of the tournament for the Australian side.
Ryan has captained the NSW WRL Dragons for two seasons and along with veteran Craig Cannane has been instrumental in the team’s success.
St George Illawarra have won two consecutive premierships after defeating the Newcastle Knights in the grand final 42-34 this season.
