Rothfield selects his 2018 Dally M Team of the Year

The Daily Telegraph journalist Phil Rothfield has released his Dally M team of the year, and has also named his rookie of the year for the 2018 NRL season.

Rothfield began his article by suggesting the winner of the Dally M medal is usually a forgone conclusion with two rounds remaining, although this year's count should be a more exciting one.

Damien Cook, Kalyn Ponga and Roger Tuivasa Sheck are all joint favourites for the award, meaning it could be a very important fortnight ahead for those three stars of the game in particular.

Rothfield then went ahead and selected his team of the year, with a pair of Rabbitohs, Roosters and Panthers stars headlining the nine-man team.

The veteran journalist had a lot of trouble picking the front row position, and narrowly went for David Klemmer over Andrew Fifita.

Rothfield also said the fullback position was one of the toughest to select, given the superstars who have dominated in the No. 1 jersey so far this season.

"The toughest positional award of them all. When was the last time we had five great fullbacks of the calibre of Ponga, James Tedesco, Billy Slater, Val Holmes and Tuivasa-Sheck," Rothfield wrote.

"I’ve gone for Ponga because he was so high in the count (one point off the lead) when voting went behind closed doors.

"But the others have been outstanding and could knock him off."

Rothfield's 2018 Dally M Team of the Year

Fullback: Kalyn Ponga (Newcastle)

Winger: Josh Addo-Carr (Melbourne)

Centre: Latrell Mitchell (Sydney)

Five-eighth: James Maloney (Penrith)

Halfback: Cooper Cronk (Sydney)

Lock: Sam Burgess (South Sydney)

Second row: Billy Kikau (Penrith)

Hooker: Damien Cook (South Sydney)

Front row: Dave Klemmer (Centerbury)

Coach: Stephen Kearney (New Zealand)

Rookie: Jamayne Isaako (Brisbane)