Quote ="chapylad"
Well I both agree with you chapylad and also take issue with you regarding the Man of Steel. I agree fully with your point that Peacock should get it, no danger but your views on Clarke are somewhat misguided. Yes he only generally plays 40 mins or so, but that is all part and parcel of the game. Making them as potent as possible. Impact players are an important part of the game nowadays and if you are only going to include players that play the full eighty then that means that impact players cannot win it. Burrow is another brilliant player, but would he still be as brilliant if he played the full eighty at hooker rather than interchanging with Aiton. This season yes Clarke has only been playing 40 or so, but over those forty minutes he has largely been devastating, which he would not have been half as much if he was playing the full 80.
On Saturday he had to play around 65 to 70 minutes, which obviously nullified his attacking threat. Furthermore Leeds brilliant tactics and defence allied to the fact that not one of our forwards made a clean break or had any go forward, meant it was virtually impossible for him to show his attacking threat. When that happens the hallmark of a quality player is can he do the other nitty grittty side of the game well. Well he certainly did, because he made 37 tackles in the game, missing only the one and that is a phenomenal effort over around 65 minutes, over one tackle every two minutes. He was easily our top tackler and his carry rate was just as impressive although he made no breaks, the reason already explained. If you watch the game again his defence was awesome and without it, we would have got beat much easier. Furthermore his defence all year has been awesome, there is far far more to him than his silky running skills. There is more to RL than making breaks.
Clarke is a worthy contender and listen to the players of all clubs themselves, the ones that know and they all mention him, including the great man himself Jamie Peacock, who only the other week on the SL show, said that DC was teriffic and was one of his 3 selections for it.
However I agree that JP should get it, as he has been absolutely more than awesome this year.
