Tom Burgess 'better than Nicho Hynes' as fresh NRL storm erupts over Dally M voting

The Dally M voting has once again left NRL fans and Andrew Voss baffled with Nicho Hynes earning two points despite not standing out in the win over the Rabbitohs. NRL commentator Voss led the frustration last week when Dylan Brown was granted two points from a judge when his team was hammered in a 33-point loss.

Brown came under criticism for his performance at halfback - and Brad Arthur moved him back to five-eighth next game - but still managed to earn two points in the Dally M voting. And Voss has once again sounded off on the judging with Hynes given two points in a match he claimed there were at least six better players on the park.

Voss called the Sharks' win over the Rabbitohs for Fox Sports on Saturday and said there were a number of players ignored in the scoring who played better than the halfback. And this has led to frustration among fans over how the Dally M voting has been awarded.

“This is not a pile on towards Nicho Hynes but the perception is that when in doubt, Hynes picks up points in Cronulla games," Voss said on SEN Radio. "One of the judges has rated him the second best player on the field. I called the game (on commentary) and I reckon these players were all clearly better than Hynes.

“Ronaldo Mulitalo, Will Kennedy, Sione Katoa, Jesse Ramien, Braydon Trindall and Blayke Brailey who I thought were fantastic. Tom Burgess was outstanding for South Sydney and I could even put up Shaq Mitchell. Burgess was clearly better than Hynes on a losing side.”

Mulitalo did receive maximum points for his massive effort on the wing for the Sharks, but Kennedy, Katoa, Ramien and Trindall all received no points in the voting. Hynes currently sits in third place on the overall leaderboard 14 points.

Rabbitohs forward Burgess had his best game of the year having scored a try and made 161 running metres. This isn't the first time Hynes has been dragged into the Dally M backlash. The halfback was leading the leaderboard in 2024 after three rounds, despite many fans questioning whether he was the best player on the field in the games he received huge points.

NRL defends Dally M voting system

Round one of the NRL caused uproar with the votes when Joey Manu missed out after his superb display, and Hynes was granted six points in a pretty quiet match. And NRL head of football Graham Annesley was quick to defend the system after just one round.

"They've got a job to select players who are their peers because they've done exactly what these players have done," he said. "Across the course of the season, the players will be judged by many of these judges, and it's not like we've got these judges doing the same teams every week. It's about the credibility and the integrity of the process, so it shouldn't matter who is doing the selections as long as they're people who are qualified to do it.

"It's a season-long competition, and people will agree or disagree (with the votes). It happens publicly for the first half of the year and then it goes behind closed doors. That's been the process for recent seasons, and it's the process again. It's a matter of opinion."