Douglas was brilliant for them and an obvious candidate for the award.

“I think he’s had a wonderful year and I think the recognition of Country to put him on the development tour to the USA is testament to his abilities,” Pirates co-coach Andrew Verrell said.

Douglas, Pirates team-mate Josh Stewart and St Albert’s second-rower Ollie Bartlett will be heading off to the States later this month.

It is good reward for Douglas, who was on the cusp of making the Cockatoos squad this season.

“Really, he’s a number seven we’re still moulding into a 13,” Verrell said.

The skillset from his days as a breakaway and foot speed makes for a devastating combination, and Douglas was arguably the most damaging centre in the competition.

Opposition teams knew they had to shut him down if they were to be a chance of beating Pirates.

He was also a bit of a go-to guy for Verrell, to the point that in the grand final he even shifted him into flanker for the last 10 minutes to add a bit more impetus.

“He’s just so versatile,”  Verrell said.

The same can be said of players’ player Doug Biffin.

He played in a few different positions over the course of the season, finishing up at prop.

“He never batted an eyelid when I said to him I needed to change things up to try to get a bit more go-forward and was moving him to loosehead,” Verrell said.

He was good there too.

“He essentially stabilised the scrum,” Verrell said, adding that Biffin played around half the season with a broken bone in his hand.

Douglas’s centre partner Greg White was named best back.

“You could see when he started he was a very traditional old-style English 12,” he said.

“He got better as the season went on.

“He always gave us go-forward in the centre there, even if we had to resort to hit-ups.”

He was also very strong defensively.

Co-coach Conrad Starr was adjudged the best forward.

Starr missed a few games through injury but was his usual consistent self.