Kalyn Ponga and Stacey Waaka won the men’s and women’s IRL Golden Boot awards in Brisbane yesterday, Thursday, November 12, with England’s Rob Hawkins taking the wheelchair award for a third straight year. The full story of that awards night, including the Hall of Legends inductions, is in iimiTV’s original Golden Boot report.
Friday brought the first payoff. Hawkins, the one winner whose final was still to come when the awards were handed out, completed the double in Wollongong, while the reaction to Ponga and Waaka settled into place ahead of Sunday’s finals at Suncorp Stadium.
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Rob Hawkins Golden Boot, then a world title
FINAL: England 50, France 38
England beat France 50-38 in the Wheelchair World Cup final at WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong on Friday, and NRL.com’s official final report records how Hawkins closed his week: two of England’s nine tries, and his Golden Boot trophy presented to him at full-time, before he and his team-mates received their winners’ medals. Joe Coyd, named player of the final, scored four tries and Jack Brown three, as England overturned a France side that had led 22-10 in the first half before England went in 28-22 ahead at the break.
The title makes England the first nation to lift the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup on three occasions, as BBC Sport’s final report sets out, and back-to-back champions after their 28-24 win over the same opponents in Manchester in 2022. All five wheelchair finals have been England against France, and the pair are now split three titles to two. Hawkins had revealed during the tournament that England kept a ladder in their team room and spray-painted a rung gold after each win. Friday’s win, BBC Sport noted, means they can now paint the final rung gold.
England, the 2026 Wheelchair World Cup champions, in Wollongong. Photo: NRL.com.
Brown, whose hat-trick included the try of the tournament off a Hawkins kick just before half-time, summed up the night to Sky Sports: “I am feeling amazingly proud. I am feeling a bit out of body at the moment. It was an incredible display and it was just so much fun playing with the guys. We said we had to work hard for each other and that is what we did today.” France’s Dany Denuwelaere scored a second-half hat-trick in defeat, against the same player, Hawkins, who had beaten him to the Golden Boot the night before. The full final report is in iimiTV’s coverage of England’s third wheelchair title.
Ponga and Waaka, the reaction settles
For the two New Zealand winners, Friday was about what the awards already say before Sunday is played. Kiwis coach Stacey Jones, himself inducted into the Hall of Legends on the night, struggled to find the word for his full-back, as AAP’s awards report recorded: “He’s one of those players, you know that he’s really good, but when he’s in your team, he’s, you know? He’s had a huge impact for us and how he played last week, just unbelievable to come back from a broken arm and slot in like that.”
Waaka’s own words landed further on Friday, too. “I have never been in front of that haka and it hit me. It got me good,” she said in the same AAP report. “I am not an emotional person, but they nearly got tears out of me. I am super proud to have them by my side. This award is a testament to my friends who have supported me throughout this journey and to my amazing teammates who make me look good on the field.” The Warriors’ own awards wrap, published Friday, adds the club frame: Waaka is the first Warriors player and the third New Zealander to win the women’s Golden Boot, and the Ponga-Waaka double is New Zealand’s third in five seasons, after Joey Manu and Raecene McGregor in 2022 and James Fisher-Harris and Georgia Hale in 2023.
Stacey Waaka and Kalyn Ponga at the IRL awards in Brisbane. Photo: One New Zealand Warriors.
Sunday now decides the rest
How to watch: New Zealand v Australia, women’s and men’s World Cup finals, Sunday, November 15, at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Women’s final: Kiwi Ferns v Jillaroos, 4:10 p.m. AEDT
Men’s final: Kiwis v Kangaroos, 7:35 p.m. AEDT
Stream (Australia): Seven and 7plus
What is left is the part the Golden Boot does not judge. The award is settled before the finals, so Ponga and Waaka keep theirs whatever happens on Sunday, but the men’s final is a rematch of the tournament opener, which New Zealand lost narrowly to Australia, and both finals put a Golden Boot winner against the Australian players they beat for the award. Ponga starts at full-back opposite Reece Walsh, the man he edged for the men’s award, with the official final team lists, published by Rugby League Zone from the NRL lists, showing Ronaldo Mulitalo back from suspension as New Zealand’s one change and Australia naming the same 19 that beat Samoa 44-12. Australia chase a fourth straight men’s title. New Zealand, in their first final since 2013, chase a first since 2008.
Hawkins has already answered his version of that question: the individual prize on Thursday and the team prize on Friday. By Sunday night, Ponga and Waaka will know whether their Golden Boots sit beside world titles as well, or stand on their own as the record of two debut tournaments that changed what their teams believed was possible.
