Events
The annual BDO Rugby Players Lunch is one of the most eagerly anticipated on the Rugby calendar.
It celebrates the achievements and journey of RUPA's members at every level of the professional game, as well as away from Rugby in the community and in study pursuits.
Every year, close to 100 current and past players join RUPA's commercial partners in Sydney for the Lunch, which also incorporates the presentation of eight different individual player Awards and sees inductees of the RUPA Centurions Club formally recognised.
The full list of RUPA Award winners since inception is as follows, with different Awards introduced at varying stages since 2001.
RUPA Medal for Excellence:
2001 - George Gregan (ACT Brumbies), 2002 - Nathan Sharpe (Queensland Reds), 2003 - Brendan Cannon (NSW Waratahs), 2004 - George Gregan (ACT Brumbies), 2005 - Nathan Sharpe (Queensland Reds), 2006 - George Gregan (ACT Brumbies), 2007 - George Smith (ACT Brumbies), 2008 - George Smith (ACT Brumbies), 2009 - Berrick Barnes (Queensland Reds), 2010 - David Pocock (Western Force), 2011 - Nathan Sharpe (Western Force), 2012 - Nathan Sharpe (Western Force), 2013 - Nick Cummins (Western Force), 2014 - James Slipper (Queensland Reds), 2015 - David Pocock (ACT Brumbies), 2016 - Christian Leali'ifano (ACT Brumbies), 2017 - Isi Naisarani (Western Force), 2018 - David Pocock (ACT Brumbies), 2019 - Allan Alaalatoa (ACT Brumbies), 2020 (not awarded), 2021 - Marieke Koroibete (Melbourne Rebels), 2022 - Allan Alaalatoa (ACT Brumbies), 2023 - James Slipper (ACT Brumbies)
RUPA Women's Medal for Excellence
2023 - Ashley Marsters (Melbourne Rebels)
Newcomer of the Year:
2006 - Berrick Barnes (Queensland Reds), 2007 - David Pocock (Western Force), 2008 - Ben Lucas (Queensland Reds), 2009 - Laurie Weeks (Queensland Reds), 2010 - Pat McCabe (Brumbies), 2011 - Ben Tapuai (Queensland Reds), 2012 - Joseph Tomane (Brumbies), 2013 - Israel Folau (NSW Waratahs), 2014 - Sean McMahon (Melbourne Rebels), 2015 - Sefanaia Naivalu (Melbourne Rebels), 2016 - Reece Hodge (Melbourne Rebels), 2017 - Marika Koroibete (Melbourne Rebels), 2018 - Folau Fainga'a (ACT Brumbies), 2019 - Isaac Lucas (Queensland Reds), 2020 (not awarded), 2021 - Josh Flook (Queensland Reds), 2022 - Madi Levi (Australian Womens Sevens), 2023 - Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs)
People's Choice Australian Player of the Year (formerly Wallaby of the Year):
2013 - Israel Folau (NSW Waratahs), 2014 - Matt Hodgson (Western Force), 2015 - David Pocock (ACT Brumbies), 2016 - Michael Hooper (NSW Waratahs), 2017 - Charlotte Caslick (Australian Women's Rugby Sevens), 2018 - David Pocock (Brumbies) & Evania Pelite (Australian Women's Rugby Sevens), 2019 - Grace Hamilton (Wallaroos).
Community Service Award:
2011 - David Pocock (Western Force), 2012 - Eddie Aholelei (Melbourne Rebels), 2013 - Pat Leafa (Melbourne Rebels), 2014 - Patrick McCutcheon (NSW Waratahs) & Henry Speight (Brumbies), 2015 - Paddy Ryan (NSW Waratahs), 2016 - Matt Hodgson (Western Force), 2017 - Robbie Abel (ACT Brumbies) & Matt Sandell (NSW Waratahs), 2018 - Jed Holloway (NSW Waratahs), 2019 - Lachlan McCaffrey (ACT Brumbies), 2020 (not awarded), 2021 - Tom Wright (ACT Brumbies), 2022 - Liam Wright (Queensland Reds), 2023 - Sharni Smale (Wallaroos)
Academic Achievement Award:
2011 - Matt Hodgson (Western Force), 2012 - Pat McCabe (ACT Brumbies), 2013 - Tom Kingston (Melbourne Rebels), 2014 - Jeremy Tilse (NSW Waratahs), 2015 - Ben Daley (Queensland Reds), 2016 - Alicia Quirk (Australian Women's Rugby Sevens), 2017 - James Dargaville (ACT Brumbies), 2018 - Sam Carter (ACT Brumbies), 2019 - Angus Scott-Young (Queensland Reds), 2020 (not awarded), 2021 - Ross Haylett-Petty (Melbourne Rebels), 2022 - Michael Wells (Western Force), 2023 - Tom Robertson (Western Force)
Australian Men's Rugby Sevens Players' Player of the Year:
2012 - Jesse Parahi, 2013 - Con Foley, 2014 - Cameron Clark, 2015 - Cameron Clark, 2016 - Lewis Holland, 2017 - James Stannard, 2018 - Ben O'Donnell, 2019 - Maurice Longbottom, 2021 - Josh Turner, 2022 - Dietrich Roache, 2023 - Dietrich Roache
Australian Women's Rugby Sevens Players' Player of the Year:
2013 - Emilee Cherry OAM, 2014 - Emilee Cherry OAM, 2015 - Charlotte Caslick OAM, 2016 - Charlotte Caslick OAM, 2017 - Chloe Dalton OAM, 2018 - Evania Pelite OAM, 2019 - Ellia Green OAM, 2021 - Maddison Ashby, 2022 - Faith Nathan, 2023 - Charlotte Caslick
NRC Players' Player of the Year:
2014 - Samu Kerevi (Brisbane City), 2015 - Ita Vaea (Vikings), 2016 - Jake Gordon (NSW Country Eagles), 2017 - Tom Cusack (Vikings), 2018 - Jordan Petaia (Queensland Country), 2019 - Andrew Deegan (Western Force).