The Daily Telegraph's sports editor-at-large Phil Rothfield led the criticism, raising concern over at least three of the awards handed out in the team of the year.
"Outrageous decision," tweeted Rothfield. "Clearly should have gone to Latrell Mitchell."
The greatest point of criticism surrounding the awards was Leilua's selection ahead of Mitchell — who also starred during NSW's emphatic State of Origin series win in 2018.
Mitchell was one of four official runners-up alongside Waqa Blake, Esan Marsters and Jesse Ramien.
However, that wasn't enough to please commentators.
The Dally M Awards introduced a new voting system ahead of the 2017 event — which aimed to bring more transparency to the voting process.
However, the NRL has still failed to publish its full team of the year votes this season.
The new voting system, where the judging panel is made up exclusively of former NRL players, awards the positional awards in the team of the year on the basis of Dally M player of the year votes.
The judging panel includes legends Peter Sterling, Andrew Johns, Nathan Hindmarsh, Greg Alexander, Brett Kimmorley, Kevin Walters, Ryan Girdler, Brett Finch, Mark Riddell, Mark Geyer, Darren Lockyer, Wally Lewis and Danny Buderus.
If no player in a particular position is awarded a Dally M medal vote across a full round of the competition — the judging panel awards one vote to the best player in that position each round.
That complex system saw Leilua poll significantly ahead of Mitchell.
The full Dally M leaderboard shows Leilua finished as the second-highest voted player for the Raiders with 11 votes.
In a team full of stars, Mitchell failed to finish in his team's top five players and finished with just five votes.
Any player who polls in the top 10 of the Dally M medal leaderboard and is the top votegetter in his position automatically wins his spot in the team of the year — even if a rival polls more one-vote scores in the rounds where nobody in that position was awarded a vote in the player of the year voting system.
Clear as mud, right?
n other awards, Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith won captain of the year, South Sydney's Anthony Seibold was coach of the year and Brisbane's Isaako was the rookie of the year after leading the point-scoring race.
Sunday's grand finalists Melbourne and the Sydney Roosters both had one pick, with Cameron Munster at five-eighth and Blake Ferguson as winger. Meanwhile South Sydney's Damien Cook picked up both the Dally M hooker of the year award and the Provan Summons people's choice medal.
Brisbane's Brittany Breayley was the NRL women's player of the competition, while Gold Coast captain Ryan James won the Ken Stephen medal for his community work.
Dally M winners:
Dally M, Fullback: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (Warriors)
Captain: Cameron Smith (Storm)
Coach: Anthony Seibold (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Winger: Blake Ferguson (Roosters)
Centre: Joseph Leilua (Raiders)
Five-eighth: Cameron Munster (Storm)
Halfback: Luke Brooks (Wests Tigers)
Lock: Jason Taumalolo (Cowboys)
Second-rower: Josh Jackson (Bulldogs)
Prop: Andrew Fifita (Sharks)
Hooker, Provan Summons People's Choice: Damien Cook (Rabbitohs)
Interchange: Jazz Tevaga (Warriors)
Rookie, top pointscore: Jamayne Isaako (Broncos)
Top tryscorer: David Fusitu'a (Warriors)
Female player: Brittany Breayley (Broncos)
Ken Stephen medal: Ryan James (Titans).
