The Golden Goosestep Awards 2012

A week on from News Limited’s warm up event, A View From the Top finally reveals the contenders for rugby league’s showpiece awards night The Golden Goosesteps. Have your say over the next week before award winners are announced.

Worst buy of the year

Most people will immediately single out Chris Sandow as the worst signing of 2012. But the result is not as clear cut as you think, with many players putting in truly abysmal performances after much-hyped signings.

Adam Blair had zero impact on the Wests Tigers this year. Well actually, he had zero positive impact on Wests Tigers this year, with missed tackles becoming a strong feature of his game.

Jamal Idris is blessed with the physical abilities to run rings around or over any centre in the competition. But to do this he would need to be in a condition to run and receive the ball, neither of which happened too often this year.

While at Newcastle, Kade Snowden and Darius Boyd did not live up to their significant reputations.

From the field of five who do you think deserves to take home the Golden Goosestep worst buy of the year award? Betting markets have been framed with Adam Blair emerging as a short priced $2 favourite, Chris Sandow at $4.50, while Jamal Idris and Darius Boyd loiter back at $8. Very little support for Kade Snowden at $11, with most people of the opinion he was rubbish before heading up the F3 anyway.

Best buy of the year

Two coaches head this field with Michael Maguire and Des Hasler having extraordinary impacts on their respective clubs. Joining them are a slew of mid-season deals Krisnan Inu and Sandor Earl most notably.

Todd Carney at the Sharks and Nate Myles at the Gold Coast also proved astute purchases. Meanwhile, following in compatriots Gareth Ellis and Sam Burgess’ footsteps, James Graham’s ball-playing ability and workrate proved an immediate success in the NRL.

Who do you think was the best buy of 2012? Once again we have framed a betting market with the coaches leading the field at $2.50 apiece. James Graham is just behind with considerable support from the punters at $3, while Todd Carney and Krisnan Inu are $5 shot. Very little support for either Nate Myles $14 or Sandor Earl $21 in the early stages of betting.

Player of the year

With so much talent it will be hard choosing between fullbacks Greg Inglis, Ben Barba and Matt Bowen, which is not to discount the grunt work of forwards Sam Burgess, James Graham or Cameron Smith, while halves Jonathon Thurston and Cooper Cronk are always worthy of a mention.

In a more open field, Barba is at $3, while Cronk and Bowen are at $3.50. Greg Inglis, Jonathon Thurston and Cameron Smith are at $7 while you can seemingly write your own ticket for Burgess $15 and Graham $21.

The polished turd of the year

The most anticipated award has been saved for last – which player frustrates the most and contributes least to any chance of success for their football club? To qualify for this award players needed to play at least 12 first grade games this year, which rules out red hot favourites Matt Groat and Fetuli Talanoa.

Once again Jamal Idris, Kade Snowden, Darius Boyd, Adam Blair and Chris Sandow are up for awards with Tim Moltzen, Justin Poore and Luke Walsh staking strong claims for the gong.

Wests Tigers dismal season sees Tim Moltzen a $1.50 favourite to take home the Turd. Adam Blair is right alongside his teammate at $3, with support for others only minor at this point in time. It’s hard to separate Snowden and Poore, while Walsh and Sandow offered very little but missed tackles to their side in 2012. Newcastle fans are still waiting for Darius Boyd to show up while the Gold Coast are wondering what Jamal Idris does all day, apart from the obvious – eating of course.

Make your voice heard!