Red Bull’s Mark Webber, of Australia, celebrates after wining the Brazil’s Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009. AP Photo/Andre Penner
Last week we voted for The Roar’s Australian sporting team of the year. This week we open voting on The Roar’s Australian sportsperson of the year, with great international performances from the likes of Mark Webber and Cadel Evans, and domestic stars such as Gary Ablett Jnr. and Billy Slater.
Who of the following athletes deserve the title of Australian sportsperson of the year?
The nominees are:
Mark Webber – Motorsport
Webber finally entered the Grand Prix winners club with victories in Germany and Brazil. Despite being limited in his pre-season preparations as he recovered from a broken leg, Webber took advantage of a competitive Red Bull, keeping highly rated teammate Sebastian Vettel honest all season.
Cadel Evans – Cycling
While his campaign to win Le Tour de France may have been derailed by a disappointing team performance, Evans went on to the claim the men’s world road championship in Switzerland with an aggressive late race attack, in addition to an impressive display at the challenging Giro d’Italia.
Steve Hooker – Athletics
Hooker added world championship success to his Olympic gold medal, overcoming injury in Berlin to jump to a courageous victory; establishing himself at the forefront of his sport and as Australia’s most successful track and field athlete at present.
Tim Cahill – Football
Timmy keeps scoring for the Socceroos, saving our national side’s blushes on more than one occasion, scoring braces against Japan in World Cup qualification and Ireland in an international friendly, and that crucial goal against Oman in the Asian Cup qualifier.
Gary Ablett Jr. – AFL
Ablett confirmed his status as the greatest in the game at present with a famous Brownlow win, his third consecutive AFL Players’ Association MVP award and, more importantly, his second premiership success with Geelong. Racking up 40 possessions plus on several occasions, Ablett was unstoppable in 2009.
Billy Slater – League
Slater won the battle of the fullbacks against Jarryd Hayne to help Melbourne Storm to NRL premiership success. His starring performance in the Four Nations final against England capped off a great year.
Mark Schwarzer – Football
The rock for the Socceroos, it has often been Schwarzer’s fine form that has saved the Socceroos on numerous occasions. With only one goal conceded in the World Cup qualification final group stage, Schwarzer was once again pivotal to the Socceroos’ success.
Jarryd Hayne – League
The Dally M victor helped vault the Parramatta Eels from the mid-pack to the NRL Grand Final with some breathtaking match-winning performances in a breakout season.
Other nominees include:
Harry Kewell – Football. Rejuvenated at Galatasaray, Kewell was also a linchpin for the Socceroos.
Matt Giteau – Rugby. The leading points scorer for the Wallabies this season and nominated for the IRB’s player of the year award.
Ricky Ponting – Cricket. Centuries in the Ashes and most runs in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament showed Ponting is one of the greatest batsmen in the game.
Craig Alexander – Triathlon. Won the challenging Hawaiian Ironman and defended his world ironman title at the age of 36!
Dani Samuels – Athletics (Field). Victory in the discus at the Berlin championships made Samuels the youngest world champion at 21.
Stephanie Gilmore – Surfing. Claimed her third world title as she follows in the footsteps of Layne Beachley.
Sharelle McMahon – Netball. Led the Melbourne Vixens to premiership success and Captain of the
Australian Netball Diamonds.
So who deserves the title?
Vote now and leave a comment to justify your decision. Voting closes next Wednesday afternoon (Dec 16).
[poll id=”61″]
antonio
Guest
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.
karne
Guest
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.
Peter H
Guest
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.
Gary
Guest
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.
Crazy Dave
Guest
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.
Chris
Guest
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.
Marshall
Guest
Think Hayne is winning cause he burst onto the scene this year. Made a real impression on people with match winning performances
Simon
Guest
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.
Springs
Guest
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.
JiMMM
Guest
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)).
haha
Guest
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
JiMMM
Guest
To be fair, I would still vote for Steve Hooker, just surprised he didn't even make the list
Billo
Guest
I seem to recall that Inglis won the award as Man of the Series in the Four Nations.
Rod
Guest
Go the eels, oops I mean Hayne. 29% so far :)
Marshall
Guest
Hayne was the NRL standout, Slater was at the standout at the Four Nations
Marshall
Guest
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.
Billo
Guest
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.
Robbos
Guest
Unfortunately for Jamie, some sport just don't get teh recognition it deserves.
Webber. Few Australians make it to Formula 1, even fewer are successful.
ren
Guest
ricky ponting -1% laugh