Cooper Cronk has taken another step into rugby league immortality after being crowned the 2016 Dally M Play of the Year alongside Cowboys prop Jason Taumalolo.
It is the second time in four seasons Cronk has taken out the NRL's highest individual award after also achieving the honour in 2013.
The champion halfback was tied with Taumalolo on 26 votes after 25 rounds and neither player polled a vote in the final game to see the Dally M shared for the second time in three years.
"A long time ago when I started I would have sworn this was not possible," Cronk said.
"This is only possible because of Melbourne Storm, there is no doubt about that.
"I've got a lot of good memories, a lot of good times and it is all because of Melbourne Storm. To be fair if I could break this (medal) up into a lot of pieces I'd give a piece to each to each of the guys I play with, even to the coaching staff, admin staff, support staff.
"Because for a good team and a good player to be anointed like this it takes a lot of good people behind the scenes and I appreciate everyone that does their little bit to help me stand here today."
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Cronk once again proved why is he in the discussion amongst the game's all-time greats and was also named Dally M Halfback of the Year for the fifth time in his career.
Not only did he provide 23 try assists but also scored 12 tries himself, equaling his career best.
Yet again his match-winning prowess came to the fore with three field goals to help get Storm over the line throughout the season, including a golden point winner against Wests Tigers in Round 7.
To top it all off he became just the 25th player in rugby league history to play 300 NRL games when he guided Storm to a Preliminary final win over the Raiders.
He may now have yet another Dally M medal around his neck but the 33-year-old admits he is firmly focused on what awaits both he and his teammates at the end of this Grand Final week.
"We've come up to Sydney now, got a couple of things to do tomorrow and slowly build to Sunday," Cronk said.
"Cronulla are a fantastic team, to win 15 in a row is no easy feat so it is going to be tough. It is going to be a really gritty game and physical so hopefully there is a good crowd there, the NRL gets a lot of exposure and hopefully there's a lot of Storm fans in the crowd."
