Pocock also claimed the Austrailan Player of the Year award earlier this year © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: David Pocock

Teams: Australia

Wallabies flanker David Pocock has picked up yet another award at the end of an outstanding year with the Australian Rugby Union Players Association's Medal for Excellence.

The 22-year-old, who claimed the John Eales Medal as Australia's Player of the Year and the fans' Player of the Year awards in October, was also shortlisted for the International Rugby Board's Player of the Year honour having cemented his status as a major force in the game with a series of eye-catching displays.

Pocock collected his latest honour at the RUPA awards ceremony in Sydney and immediately set his sights on the sport's biggest prize - the Rugby World Cup. "You'd swap everything for that," he told AAP. "Definitely every rugby player's dream and goal is to win a World Cup, so next year will be a massive year for us.

"We can't get ahead of ourselves. We've put in a lot of hard work and we've progressed a bit this year, but we're still nowhere near where we need to be. "There's still a lot of hard work to go and a lot of work to be done in the Super 15 and obviously we'll need to step up in the Tri Nations to give us a good start into the World Cup."

RUPA's Medal for Excellence not only honours on-field achievements but also recognises players who have gone above and beyond their responsibilities as professional players by making a difference in their communities.

Every professional player in Australia is asked to vote on a 3-2-1 basis for a fellow player who they believe excelled on and off the field in 2010 in areas of performance, leadership, consistency and discipline plus their contribution to charitable work, vocational skills and their commitment to the development of the game.

The Zimbabwe-born Pocock started his own charity - EightyTwenty Vision - to highlight the plight of those less fortunate and dedicates much of his spare time on the project. "I really enjoy putting work into that and the support I've had from the rugby community has been fantastic," he said. "It's been pretty humbling to see the amount of people who have wanted to help out."

Pocock beat utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper, fly-half Quade Cooper, scrum-half Will Genia and lock Nathan Sharpe to claim the award. Winger Pat McCabe, who played every single minute of the Brumbies' Super 14 campaign before making his Wallabies debut off the bench against Italy on the spring tour, was named RUPA's newcomer of the year.