Is Jahrome Hughes the favourite to win the 2024 Dally M Medal?

MELBOURNE Storm star Jahrome Hughes has put on another spectacular performance in the 2024 NRL season, leading his side to a tough 32-14 win over the Parramatta Eels on Friday night.

After falling behind twice in the early stages of the game, the Hughes-led Storm were ruthless throughout the second half and stormed home for the important victory.

Although it wasn’t Hughes’ best performance with ball in hand, it was his efforts on the defensive end that caught the eyes of many.

In what could be considered a quiet night in attack for the Kiwi halfback, Hughes finished up with 128 running metres, two line-break assists, one try assist and likely a maximum points haul in the Dally M Medal leaderboard.

With Hughes in genuine contention to take out the game’s top individual honour, his Storm teammate Harry Grant was quick to heap praise on the halfback after yet another stellar showing.

“Personally I’d put him right up there… He’s got so many threats to his game,” Grant said post-game “You see what he’s done this year and a lot of people would have him up there in the top tier.”

Hughes does face some fierce competition in the race for the Dally M Medal, as SEN’s Justin Horo dissected the other top candidates and their cases.

“He’ll (Hughes) be very hard to (catch),” Horo said on SEN 1170 Mower’s Club. “Dylan Edwards would’ve been thereabouts before missing a number of games… he would’ve been very close.

“I think Angus Crichton is a shout, I’d be surprised if he wasn’t thereabouts, even though he missed some time at the start of the year.

“He made a very big run through Origin, you can get points from Origin as well… his form at the Roosters has been unreal.”

The Dally M Medal leaderboard went behind closed doors at the end of Round 12, when Dylan Edwards led the way with 31 points, holding a significant advantage over Hughes (16) and Crichton (10).