I considered Hall unlucky last year and put him forward for a MOS candidate for the reasons I think Richards is.

Ignorant opposition fans dismissed it saying he was just a try scorer and his tries were laid on a plate by Senior. They were wrong. He did so much more for his team, as Richards had done this year.

I am not saying Westwood or Graham are not worthy candidates, they are. Are you saying Richards isn't a worthy candidate?

I'm saying Richards isn't a worthy candidate for MOS. But perhaps I am a bit of a traditionist there. I consider the forwards or the very creative halfbacks to be more of a MOS player, than I do backs.

I have no problem in Richards been given player of the year, for his achievements in the points he has scored, whether they are handed on a plate for him or not. But I don't think points scored for a winger and especially a goal kicking one, should play any part in been awarded MOS.

then we must disagree for the reasons I have stated above.

Whilst I am happy to disagree like grown ups I really don't think you've properly considered the points I made above about Richard's contribution at all.

You clearly have a preconceived notion that a winger shouldn't be MOS and, therefore, are not approaching it with an open mind.

I've considered your points and viewed those stats against other wingers, and taking the goals and kicking in play out of the question, it is pretty much a level playing field. Therefore the conclusion is that his potential accolade is coming from points scored.



I don't actually dispute that and I am quite open about it as explained above. But who got MOS in 2004? I can't remember, but Vaikona had a far superior season for the Bulls that year than Richards has had this year. I think a winger scoring a record amount of tries for the competition and setting ones up for others, I could understand a lot more for MOS.

Like I said, I am not taking away Richards achievements this year, I would certainly rather see my team not play against him than to play against him, but I just don't see him as deserving for MOS against others in the comp.

I think Danny McGuire should be a serious conternder for MOS. He has been constently very good in an injury hit out of sorts Leeds side and has almost single handedly kept us in the running for silverwear this year. Richards has also had a fine season but he has had the great benefit of playing behind the most consistent form side in SL. He is a great finisher and kicker but has been on the end of a conveyor belt of scoring chances. So my vote goes to Danny for producing the goods all on his own week in and week out.

Exactly! Its his work rate that most people will miss but the players wont!!

IIRC it was Farrell which was a joke of a decision as it should have been Diskin, Mcguire or Vainikolo (who I assume you meant)

I didn't see that one coming from a mile away.

(tick!)

andy farrell won mos because of the ''phatom of the opera'' incident when he played with a broken nose againt leeds at the jjb.

In that game leeds had about 10 consecutive sets on wigans lline and couldn't score, wigan defended like the world would end if we scored.

andy farrell carried the wigan team that season, playing at prop. He carried them to the eliminator.

To claim his selection as MOS was a joke and that matt diskin (s) should have won it is laughable.

Farrell performances that season typified everything a MOS winner should be.

farrell got it on the last few games of the season, esp the leeds game. he also only played prop in the last few games.
diskin was the catalyst for a rampant leeds side that broke all records.
G1 is correct, it was a joke decision

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Leeds Rhinos 28 24 2 2 1037 443 +594 50
2 Bradford Bulls 28 20 1 7 918 565 +353 41
3 Hull F.C. 28 19 2 7 843 478 +365 40
4 Wigan Warriors 28 17 4 7 736 558 +178 38
5 St Helens 28 17 1 10 821 662 +159 35
6 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 28 15 0 13 788 662 +126 30
7 Huddersfield Giants 28 12 0 16 518 757 -239 24
8 Warrington Wolves 28 10 1 17 700 715 -15 21
9 Salford City Reds 28 8 0 20 507 828 -321 16
10 London Broncos 28 7 1 21 561 968 -407 15
11 Widnes Vikings 28 7 0 21 466 850 -384 14
12 Castleford Tigers 28 6 0 22 515 924 -409 12

diksin was part of an all rampant leeds team. Mcguire was rampant. Bai was rampant. Senio was blockbusting. even f*cking mcdonald looked decent. the whole team was awesome.

Farrell single handedly carried wigan into the playoffs that year, they got blitzed by injury at stages in the season, he gave them the go forward, the leadership, he helped create alot of their points.

It was never a ''joke decision''. G1 is wrong.

Pan-face got it because he was jumping ship to Rah-Rah. Diskin by a country mile!

no problem with your opinion, thats what we are here for. i just agree with him(although i try not to make a habit of it

)

Wigan finished 5th, we won the league by a record margin, scoring a record number of points and won the GF. If you were campaigning for a Leeds player if the clubs were reversed (much as now) then you would be laughed at. Although I guess as your sole purpose on this site seems to be to highlight how good AP was at this kind of posting style, I don't expect anything else.
By your logic Danny McGuire would be the outstanding candidate this year as he's carried us to a cup final and the top 4 during a season when hardly anyone has shown consistant form in a Leeds shirt.
It was a joke decision, Vainakolo or McGuire, who set the league alight with a try scoring duel that provided entertainment all the way to the GF should have won it.

Diskin's stats blow holes in Farrell's points supply. Apart from goalkicking (which was average at best through his career) that year he has a staggering "2" more try assists and actually scored three less tries than Diskin.

They finished 4th in the table, and made the eliminator.

Give over, i simply post my opinion, just because I don't jizz myself over everything leeds.

Then my logic is consistent. I've already championed mcguire as a potential MOS candidate.

I totally disagree. Volcanoe and mcguire scored many indivdiaul tries, but also alot of it was from playing in 2 top teams.

That season, farrell was the team, for wigan.

You can waffle on about stats all you want. They don't have stats for players leading their team when it's under pressure and leading by example, which is what farrell did.

I’d have no qualm with Richards getting MoS this year – not like when Roby won it – the award lost some credibility that year.

would it not be far more simple and fairer imo to have 2 separate awards?
"the man of steel" for the forwards
and "the golden shoes" award for the backs?

Of course you do.

We should get Pat Richards to play for England in the 4 Nations. He is a class winger and great kicker. If we asked i'm sure he would turn against his supposed Irish roots. The same applies to Dobson who is a quality SH with a great kicking game.

Dobsons Kicking game and Mcguires support play would surely make a great HB pairing especially as Eastmond is injured with Tomkins at FB. Briers would be my first choice but he has stuck to his actual nationality rather the RL nationality.

Can I just pick you up on the above. Average?? Really??

In 2001 Farrell set the Wigan club's record for most points in a season with 429. He is only the second player to score more than 3,000 points in all competitions at Wigan. He celebrated his Testimonial match in 2002, and won the Golden Boot as the best player in the world in 2004, the Man of Steel Award twice, and the Players Player Award.

Farrell was inducted into the Order of the British Empire for services to the game in the New Year's list of 2004.

As of September 2008, With 33 goals, Andy is 2nd in the list of England's all-time Goal Scorers (behind George Fairbairn), with 99 points he is 2nd in the list of England's all-time Point Scorers (behind George Fairbairn).


I'd like to see 'above average' then!

Showing yer true colours as a Pie lover now Phelpsy why did'nt you ever reveal this on air?

The rest I can accept as being indicative of a great player but adding this is a bit desperate considering in Farrell's days the England brand was reserved for '2nd Division' International comps.

No he wouldn't. He's already been offered, and he turned it down flat.

It was a rampant, awesome team and who was the player of the year in that team?

MOS that year should have been Diskin, McGuire or Vainikolo. It was a joke decision.

What, like World Cups?

It's also a bit desperate that England's leading points scorer wasn't actually English...