Revealed: The embarrassing moment Nicho Hynes got roasted by a footy great at the Dally M Awards – but there’s a simple explanation

Cronulla star Nicho Hynes picked up a prestigious award at the Dally M ceremony on Wednesday night, but he also suffered an embarrassing attack from co-host and Melbourne Storm great Cooper Cronk.

The 28-year-old – who turned heads when he arrived with girlfriend Piper Wallis – won the Ken Stephen Medal for his community work and was early in the race for the Dally M Medal.

Two independent judges vote for the best players in each regular season match. The points they award are totaled and read out during the ceremony, so fans can see which stars are moving up and down the leaderboard.

Early in the proceedings, Cronk informed viewers of where the players stood after the completion of Round 18.

He listed the performances that earned the judges several star points – reminding the crowd that Dragons star Zac Lomax scored a hat-trick and achieved 10 conversions in one match – but changed his tune when he came to Hynes.

“Nicho Hynes fails to make the poll and remains at 30 points,” Cronk said, prompting a wave of laughter from the crowd as the Sharks star smiled and nervously played with the collar of his shirt.

The apparent backhander did not go unnoticed by footy fans.

“Cronk doesn’t even try to hide his hatred for Hynes,” someone wrote on X.

But the Sharks star received some unwanted attention when comments from co-host Cooper Cronk (pictured at the Dally Ms with wife Tara Rushton) sent the crowd into an uproar as he singled him out during a voting update.

‘Yes, I never said that about anyone else! What a Gronk Cronk!’ another added.

No worse than Anastasia’s diss to SJ last year,” said a third, referring to 2023 host Braith Anasta, who was called out by fans for giving Warriors great Shaun Johnson the same treatment Hynes received during last year’s count.

However, fans who hit Cronk have jumped the gun.

It is customary for the Dally M presenter to update fans on how each of the frontrunners have polled throughout a series of games – even if they have failed to get a single vote from the judges.

Cronk did the same when he revealed that Penrith lock Isaah Yeo had not won any votes at one point during Wednesday night’s broadcast.

Hynes’ season was interrupted by a serious leg injury that kept him off the field for weeks, leaving him without any real chance of winning his second best and fairest award.

Hynes – who won the 2022 Dally M as footy’s best and fairest player – was presented with the Ken Stephen Medal (pictured) on Wednesday evening in recognition of his community work

The medal went to Melbourne star Jahrome Hughes, who held off James Tedesco by one point to claim his biggest individual honour.

Storm No. 7 Hughes became the first Kiwi half in 32 years to claim the NRL’s top honors on Wednesday night after a thrilling finish for the count.

Hughes and the Sydney Roosters fullback were one point ahead of Tedesco heading into the final round, both collecting six votes to end the season by one point.

He was then met by an impromptu haka, led by Storm teammate Will Warbrick alongside Eliesa Katoa and Joseph Tapine.

Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans finished third, while his teammate Tom Trbojevic finished fourth despite missing large parts of the season.

Roosters second rower Olivia Kernick won the women’s Dally M and picked up her first major prize by finishing two points ahead of Parramatta fullback Abbi Church and Gold Coast halfback Lauren Brown.

Hughes’ first top gong comes after what has clearly been the best year of his career to date.

The Storm No. 7 hit their stride in Cameron Munster’s absence mid-season and helped Melbourne to the grand final.

“I don’t really play the game for individual accolades, I play it for team accolades,” Hughes said.

‘That’s how I saw it coming in.

‘But now that I’ve been lucky enough to win it, I see how special it is. When you see the players who won, it’s pretty crazy.”