Let the record show I was happy with the Dally M award winners – for the most part. One issue I did have came from the reports on Wednesday that there was a good chance Glenn Stewart would have been crowned the Dally M winner if not for his suspension.
This genuinely concerns me.
Don’t get me wrong, Glenn Stewart – particularly this year – has been an excellent club footballer. He has formed a potent right side combination with Jamie Lyon, Will Hopoate and the young and exceptionally talented Manly halves. He has impressed me with his passing and short kicking game.
In saying all of that, Glenn Stewart was not the best player in the league this year (suspension or no suspension). I can – and I’m sure you can – think of numerous players who have out-played Stewart this season.
What makes this all the more baffling is, he wasn’t even the best player in his position. There would be very few people who would argue anyone other than Paul Gallen has been the best lock all year. It signifies a severe problem with the system that someone who is clearly not the best player of the season and isn’t actually the best in his position could come so close to winning the top gong on Dally M night.
For all the people out there reading this and thinking “Yeah but, Glenn Stewart had a great season”, just think about how ridiculous it would have been to wake up on Wednesday morning to the news that Glenn Stewart was crowned 2011’s best player ahead of Benji Marshall, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston, just to name a few.
In regards to the Coach of the Year award… Craig Bellamy? Really?
NB. I am a huge Storm fan and a Brisbane Broncos member so my opinion between these two contenders is actually quite balanced. Now…
Yes, the Storm had a hard year in 2010 (maybe the hardest of any rugby league club ever); and yes, they did have to jettison a number of their players before the season and it was a great effort to bounce back and take out the minor premiership. Despite all of this, ‘Bellyache’ does still have quite a bit to work with.
On his roster, he has three of the top five players in the world in Smith, Slater and Cronk. Throw in New Zealand and England test players – Adam Blair, Sika Manu, Matt Duffie and Gareth Widdop – plus, recent State of Origin players – Anthony Quinn and Dane Nielsen – and you have a potent side. So their success should not have been a massive revelation and you must put a lot of it down to the players.
Anthony Griffin, however, really had his work cut out for him. 18 of the players he used this year, at the start of the season, had two or fewer seasons of first grade experience. Even the players that did debut in 2009 (the “elder” statesman) for the most part had only played the odd game around origin time. Justin Hodges, one of the few old hands in the team, rarely played – and when he did he wasn’t fit and didn’t perform.
Griffin, in his first year in the top job, led this team through the season, made tough calls, changed player’s roles and delivered the Broncos back to the top four.
Coach. Of. The. Year.
As I have not been shy about, I am a Maroon-bloodeed Queenslander and an avid Storm and Cameron Smith fan. He played brilliantly in the State of Origin series and ANZAC test, but was he really the year’s best representative player?
As I said in my Dally M predictions article, I don’t like Paul Gallen’s personality, but he has played like a maniac this year. He stepped it up a notch or twenty in the Origin series and was outstanding in a beaten side. He led that NSW team the way a captain should; from the front and by example. Luckily, he didn’t have to do it so much with his words because he’s not quite so good with them. Plus his form in the ANZAC test was nothing to be sneezed at.
These were essentially my only issues with the Dally M awards of 2011
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