Comments on: Vote for The Roar’s Australian Sportsperson of 2009

By: antonio

antonio — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:32:48 +0000

Unblemished record??? Not fighting the best available???? That’s not the way to measure Floyd’s invincibility.
In that case the writer should also put Julio Cesar Chavez Jr above Floyd Mayweather Jr… Chavez Jr has 41 wins and no losses, while Mayweather has just 40 wins. Go figure.

By: karne

karne — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:23:45 +0000

WTF?!?!?!?!? Webber not athletic? Have you ever SEEN the guy? Did you actually HEAR how he broke his leg? Or what he does for ‘fun’? Webber makes Hayne look like a pansy!

And if you look at the stats, the Raiders’ Josh Dugan waltzed all over Hayne in terms of the fullback position. And I mean trampled.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:19:44 +0000

Webber, by a mile. Not even a contest.

He’s on the world stage, came back from a shocking pre-season injury (the bone was protruding thru the skin!) to run his megastar teammate down to the wire, and finally won – twice!

Honourable mention should be given to Daniel Ricciardo who dominated British F3 this year and will probably take over from Webber as our F1 rep in a year or two’s time.

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:22:11 +0000

Mat Giteau Rugby’s best. I don’t think so! By his own admission he had a bloody awful season.

How about Rocky Elsom. A massive season in Ireland followed by a reasonable Capain’s performance in his first tour as Captain and outstanding personal play.

By: Crazy Dave

Crazy Dave — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:31:11 +0000

Mark Webber is my vote for this award.
Does the hard yards in one of the toughest motorsport competitions in the world, and does those hard yards for years… signs up with a new team, and then breaks a leg in Tassie, and still goes on to have the best year yet of his otherwise unremarkable career…
This bloke could have stayed in Australia and been one of the greats in the V8 circuit, instead he chose to go try his hand with the F1s.
He could have come back to Australia 5 years ago, with no disgrace in not achieving the top of F1.
He stuck it out and is now on the threshold of becoming one of the better drivers of the sport.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:14 +0000

League is certainly more athletic than F1 but how much does that mean?

Consider this – Hayne is better than 500,000 Rugby League players. Webber is in the top 5 of the Two Billion people that drive.

Both are great sportsmen – but even as a die hard League fan I can’t get my head around the amount of skill it takes to drive in F1. I was watching Top Gear recently and Richard Hammond – who would easily qualify as a better driver than 99% of people on the Road – couldn’t even get 200 metres in an F1 car before spinning out. The amount of talent required to drive one of those things is just insane (let alone to finish in the top 5 after doing it at 250kph).

Having said all that I don’t think it is ever possible to compare across sports. The skill set in virtually every sport is completely different.

By: Marshall

Marshall — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:45:57 +0000

Think Hayne is winning cause he burst onto the scene this year. Made a real impression on people with match winning performances

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:28:02 +0000

Steve Hooker without a doubt takes the title. Cannot believe Dani Samuels isn’t garnering more votes. This is a world champion in the truly world sport of track and field (unlike league, AFL, netball) who won at age 21 in a mature person’s event! Jarryd Hayne had a great last half of the NRL season but failed to fire on the world stage. Sharelle McMahon? Again didn’t set the world alight on the world stage, wasn’t even netball’s player of the year. Why Ricky Pointing and Matt Giteau are on the list I will never know, they have done nada this year.

By: Springs

Springs — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:35:23 +0000

I voted for Hayne ahead of Webber because I consider sport to be athletic, and Hayne dominated his code like no other sportsperson on the poll.

By: JiMMM

JiMMM — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:18:27 +0000

Hard to disagree with that, I would say looking at the results that Mark Webber and Steve Hooker are splitting the Sports Fan votes, while Jarred Hayne is getting all of the parochial League votes (i.e. League is best and Hayne was the best League player of 2009 (which he wasn’t, I’ve never seen a bloke talked up so much based on half a years performance before)).

By: haha

haha — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:36:21 +0000

the fact jarryd hayne is winning shows the stupidity of this poll…and the inwardness of the opinions of the people who are voting for him

eels didnt even win the title..mark webber should be ahead of him for sure

By: JiMMM

JiMMM — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:33:10 +0000

To be fair, I would still vote for Steve Hooker, just surprised he didn’t even make the list

By: Billo

Billo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:26:02 +0000

I seem to recall that Inglis won the award as Man of the Series in the Four Nations.

By: Rod

Rod — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:08:54 +0000

Go the eels, oops I mean Hayne.

29% so far

By: Marshall

Marshall — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:02:19 +0000

Hayne was the NRL standout, Slater was at the standout at the Four Nations

By: Marshall

Marshall — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:00:34 +0000

Cahill Kewell and Schwarer all had great seasons fir club and country so deserve their spot. I think Ablett was the clear standout in the AFL by far.

By: Billo

Billo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:58:29 +0000

Didn’t Greg Inglis win the Golden Boot this year as the outstanding league player in the world, and didn’t he win the Wally Lewis Medal as the outstanding player in the State of Origin series.
His absence from this list surely invalidates it.

By: Robbos

Robbos — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:52:57 +0000

Unfortunately for Jamie, some sport just don’t get teh recognition it deserves.

By: Beast-A-Tron

Beast-A-Tron — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:50:45 +0000

Webber.

Few Australians make it to Formula 1, even fewer are successful.

By: ren

ren — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:30:05 +0000

ricky ponting -1%
laugh

By: Pippinu

Pippinu — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:23:37 +0000

David
“Gary Ablett Jr. – AFL (This is trully a nothing sport with little skill level and soft) ”

Interestingly, this is not the very best demonstration of your ignorance.

I would think that you not knowing who Dani Samuels is would take the proverbial cake.

By: JiMMM

JiMMM — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:03:47 +0000

Has to be Steve Hooker for me, probably our only sportsperson who has been consistently at the top of his game for all of 2009, and won a world championship on one leg.

I’m a bit surprised Jamie Dwyer didn’t make the list, named world player of the year for the third time.

By: The Bear

The Bear — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:34:37 +0000

Schwarzer… but that’s a fine list. No D.Green, tho?

By: ren

ren — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:19:35 +0000

I voted G. Ablett, Brownlow, MVP, Premiership Medallion, now only missing the Norm Smith from his impressive pool room.

I also want to question why there are three soccer players, 2league players but only one footballer. I thought there were lots of footballers who had brilliant seasons this year, Nick Reiwoldt comes to mind, a phenomenal athlete who will bust his gut every week, carried knee injuries throughout the finals.

Steve Hooker also deserves more than a mention- World Champion adn Olympic Champion is certainly no mean feat and i wouldn’t hesitate to guess that it is a very eclusive club, not to mention that he is widely regarded as the second geatest pole vaulter of all time behind serge bubka (i think that’s the blokes name)

Also David- whilst i whole heartedly disagree with your post I do have to agree with your comment on ponting.

By: Marshall

Marshall — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:36:51 +0000

David you need to read the bios before you write such comments.

By: David

David — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:08:30 +0000

Jarryd Hayne is obviously the best of this selection

Dominated the NRL, the premier football code in terms of skill and toughness in Australia and took his side to the grand final on the back of his Dally M form. Looking at the other candidates:

Mark Webber – Motorsport (is this even a sport? and he has won one race.)
Cadel Evans – Cycling (good effort but not in a skillful sport)
Steve Hooker – Athletics (what did he do this year?)
Tim Cahill – Football (still living in the spotlight of the 2006 world cup)
Gary Ablett Jr. – AFL (This is trully a nothing sport with little skill level and soft)
Billy Slater – League (Didn’t win the Dally M)
Mark Schwarzer – Football (Once again what did he do this year?)
Harry Kewell – Football (Hasn’t he been injured for a large portion of the year?)
Matt Giteau – Rugby (No one cares about this sport.)
Ricky Ponting – Cricket (loses an Ashes series)
Craig Alexander – Triathlon (Who?)
Dani Samuels – Athletics (Field) (Who?)
Stephanie Gilmore – Surfing (Great effort on the world champs but it is surfing.)
Sharell McMahan – Netball (Not a fan of the Netball)

By: Marshall

Marshall — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:09:43 +0000

Webber for me – wins in the elite of motorsport

By: katzilla

katzilla — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:57:23 +0000

Hooker for me also. But why no Danny Green in the nominations?
Won the belt, defended the belt against one of the best pound for pound boxers of all time.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:27:40 +0000

Only two Queanbeyan boys! What a travesty!

By: Brett McKay

Brett McKay — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:18:43 +0000

Steve Hooker for me, anyone that can become World Champ on one leg deserves never-ending credit…

Tough field though, Eds. Marcus Ambrose was only last week named joint (Australian) International Motor Sportsperson of the year, along with Mark Webber. And then along with Hooker, there two other World Champions as well (Samuels and Gilmore). Might not be as clear-cut a winner as the TotY last week..