Beale edge out Stephen Moore, David Pocock and James Horwill to the award © Getty Images

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Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale has been awarded the John Eales Medal as Australia's player of the year.

Beale edged out hooker Stephen Moore in the vote-based battle for the highest individual prize in Australian Rugby with flanker David Pocock, lock James Horwill and scrum-half Will Genia rounding out the top five. The 22-year-old Beale earned 127 votes from his fellow Wallabies, five more than Moore, to be named most outstanding player over the past year.

The 2011 John Eales Medal was decided over 10 Tests - the five on last year's Spring Tour including the win over the All Blacks in Hong Kong, and the five played to date this season including the Wallabies successful Tri-Nations campaign. Votes are cast on a 3-2-1 basis by each member of the matchday squad after every Test played during the voting period.

Beale made his run on debut for the Wallabies at the start of the 2010 season against Fiji in Canberra and has since established himself as a regular in the fullback position. Last year he took out the Rookie of the Year and Try of the Year awards to cap off a successful season that included a match-winning penalty goal after the siren in Bloemfontein to break a 47-year drought on the South African high veldt.

It also caps an amazing 12 months for the former Australian Schoolboys star who finished 2010 as one of 5 nominees for the IRB Player of the Year award after his first full season at the international level.

Genia pipped Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane for the fans' choice award which completes an impressive personal trophy haul for the 23-year-old having been named Queensland's Player of the Year and the 2011 Super Rugby Player of the Year award.

Another Wallaby to cap off an impressive year was centre Pat McCabe who was named Rookie of the Year. McCabe made his Test debut off the bench against Italy on the Spring Tour last year and was only recently shifted to inside centre at the tail end of this year's Super Rugby competition.

One of the fairy tale stories of 2011 also continued with veteran No.8 Radike Samo awarded Try of the Year for his inspiring 60 metre effort against the All Blacks in the Castrol Edge Tri Nations decider last weekend.

Samo, who hadn't donned the Gold Jumper in almost eight years, brought the house down in his home town last weekend when he received a cut-out pass from fellow veteran Dan Vickerman and then fended aside would-be tackler Adam Thomson before winning a 50 metre sprint to the line ahead of All Blacks Corey Jane and Mils Muliaina. The five-pointer was Samo's first Test try and was deemed by the Fox Sports commentary team to be the 2011 Try of the Year.

Other award winners this evening included former Wallabies captain Mark Loane, who was awarded the Joe French award in recognition of his significant contribution and service to Australian Rugby over many years. Former Australian's Seven's captain, Bernard Foley, took out the Sevens Player of the Year the Shawn Mackay award for his achievements in the Gold Sevens jersey during the HSBC Sevens World Series.

Wallaroo and Queensland utility forward, Shannon Parry, was announced as the Women's Player of the Year after being voted player of the tournament at the 2011 National Women's Championships, which Queensland won.

Australian U20s and ACT Brumbies back rower, Michael Hooper, was named the U20s Player of the Year after a strong 2011 season, which as part of the Australian U20s leadership group saw him captain the team in their second game at the Junior World Championships and show great leadership throughout the tournament in Italy.

Steve Walsh, who is off to his fourth World Cup next week, received the Referee of the Year award for his officiating efforts in 2010/11. The awards event also acknowledged this year's Wallaby Hall of Fame inductees Herbert "Paddy" Moran, Paul McLean and John Eales.

The final top ten for the 2011 John Eales Medal:
1. Kurtley Beale - 127 votes
2. Stephen Moore - 122
3. David Pocock - 100
4. James Horwill - 96
5. Will Genia - 78
6. Adam Ashley-Cooper - 74
7. Digby Ioane - 73
8. Drew Mitchell - 66
9. Pat McCabe - 56
10. James O'Connor - 55

John Eales Medal - Previous Winners:
2010 - David Pocock
2009 - Matt Giteau
2008 -George Smith
2007 - Nathan Sharpe
2006 - Chris Latham
2005 - Jeremy Paul
2004 - David Lyons
2003 - Phil Waugh
2002 - George Smith