Exactly. Sinfield is a great player but he is in no way the best player in the World in any way. Not even form.

... and yet it's Sinfield, not O'Loughlin who's been deemed so important, he's been made captain.

As has been said elsewhere, the style of loose forward you pick, whether you go for the extra prop or the extra halfback, should be dependant upon the make up of the team and as such I would hope that whoever is picked to play there is chosen accordingly.

TBH, whilst I wouldn't agree with his selection I totally agreed with him being Captain if that makes sense? (although I think Leeds winning the final had a lot to do with that) His leadership skills can't be challenged by anyone neither can his kicking. If he is in the side then he has to kick goals and he has to be Captain.

And this is, I believe, what won him the Golden Boot. He may not be the best Stand-Off or the best Loose Forward, he is however the best captain. Without Sinfield Leeds would not have reached the Grand Final or the Challenge Cup final and as these were reached by defeating Wigan it's perfectly understandable that there may be 1 or 2 people on this board that don't like him for it.

It's nothing to do with them beating us on my part. I'll admit he was the mom in that game and had a blinder. I just think there are better players than him. As you sau though, there aren't many better captains.

The Golden Boot is not about being the best player in the world. If it was then Smith or Slater would win every year, following fifteen years of Johns/Lockyer wins.

It's more about achievement over a year and a career, with very few players winning it more than once. Sinfield is a worthy winner.

Maybe I should have written it with a scouse accent, then it would have been easier for you to understand.

Firstly, its a poor decision. I think several others were more deserving, but, congrats to the guy anyway.

It's difficult to dispute that he is probably the best captain in the SL comp atm. He is also the England captain wether we like it or not. Would it not be an idea to use his status (deserved or otherwise) to promote the game to outsiders.

RL needs some decent publicity, given some of the negative headlines which have dragged the game into the news recently. If those morons in London can positively spin some of the bs they do, surely we can do the same!!

I don't think it is a poor decision, trying to decide the best RL player in the world is never going to be easy. We would all agree that the NRL is the premier comp and the number of outstanding players they have in comparison to SL is plain to see. However as other posters have stated the leadership shown by Sinfield is the reason that the Rhinos have won so many SL crowns. As a role model to younger players its hard to point to anyone else. He may not possess the abilities of others but he has made more of the qualities that he does have.

Sinfield is a class act all round. He has PROVEN his quality consistently for a decade and off the field conducts himself superbly. Little things like this article support that www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... _Sinfield/ he is the 1st to arrive and is the last to leave staying behind to practice his goal kicking after everyone else has left. Choosing to do this rather than going home to his wife and kids an hour earlier each night Its easy to discredit people while they are still around and playing because everyone makes mistakes, but when the whole story is written, he will be regarded as one of the best players/captains RL has ever seen For the career he has had, not to win the golden boot would have been a travesty.

Sinfield is a class act all round. He has PROVEN his quality consistently for a decade and off the field conducts himself superbly. Little things like this article support that www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... _Sinfield/ he is the 1st to arrive and is the last to leave staying behind to practice his goal kicking after everyone else has left. Choosing to do this rather than going home to his wife and kids an hour earlier each night Its easy to discredit people while they are still around and playing because everyone makes mistakes, but when the whole story is written, he will be regarded as one of the best players/captains RL has ever seen For the career he has had, not to win the golden boot would have been a travesty.

based on that criteria i would have thought jamie peacock would have been just as much (more imo) deserving?

As it is and bear in mind im a big fan of sinfield (and if iirc i stated on a post on the leeds board a few years back when a lot of leeds fans were giving him stick) and hes like farrell in that you wont realise how good he is till hes gone.

But best player in the world even trying to take goal kicking and captaincy into account.

No.

Does it bother me. no,if it winds the aussies up all good and well.
But please dont try and rewrite the criteria or justify it for him being a role model (which he is a superb one).
He just isnt the Best Player in the World IMHO (He "May Get into my Top 25"icon_wink.gif.

And as much as "Some" Wigan fans are going overboard to berate the decision (And other fans on other boards too) there is as much OTT by "Some" Leeds fans in trying to Justify it.

but he is a prop forward - props get overlooked for golden boot imo

but you are right Peacock deserves to have won it also

if we'd have had sinfield in our side in the playoffs we wouldve won the gf.

he took us apart in the first 40 at our place.

Unless you are an aged Andy Farrell.

I would have the aged Farrell as captain ahead of Sinfield.

Sinfield is a great captain but Farrell could carry a side in a way that no one else in the modern era has. Just look at what happened when he left.

If you want an example of leadership, just watch him in the famous 2004 game v Leeds. Incredible display.

Farrell was a fantastic captain. Second only to Dean Bell imo.

WELCOME BACK!!!!!! We missed ya....

I cant believe people have given this much thought to it, its the most pointless award going! Its decided by a few ex pro's (probably gary schofield and bobbie goulding) and the happy clappers at Rugby League World magazine. The magazine probably has a readership of 1000 people, and has no influence on the game what so ever

I think that Malcolm Andrews article in League Express gets it right.

The decision by League Publications to reduce the number of overseas judges who vote on the Golden Boot was wrong (no matter what the outcome would have been).

The decision to reduce the number of overseas judges was made because there were no key international games during 2012....expect that there was in the Southern hemisphere - a huge mistake when you consider how uncompetitive the England games where during 2012.

Traditionally and in keeping with the principles of the original award consultation and research should be carried out with many different international sources before making a final decision on the winner of the award.

An interesting one. Farrell was undoubtedly magnificent in his efforts as player & leader, as you suggest he held that team together as his personal playing ability deteriorated & Wigan's standing faded. Sinfield is never going to lead by sheer physical effort & screaming at his players from behind the sticks or at a stoppage, he is physically not up to it, nor mentally does he approach captaincy that way. Sinfield needs great players around him to lead around the park, he would be absolutely devastating if he was captain of the Aussies, which is the reason I think he has struggled to shine against the Aussies (along with 99% of British players). If Sinfield plays against the Aussies he has to be the captain & direct everything, he is the best I have ever seen at that, but he is not the best player in any individual position.

Agreed.

I think Sinfield winning the Golden Boot was based purely upon his exploits as captain at Leeds and with England during 2012. I was surprised he won it, as I thought there were more deserving players, but I am however happy he won it.

TBF, I think anybody who understands RL would be a good captain of Australia and even some who don't. When you have players like Slater, Inglis, Smith, Thurston, Cronk, Gallen and even Boyd you don't really need to do too much skippering as they can win a game all on their own. Yes every now and again you'll fail but 9/10 you'll come through easy enough. I mean, they've only lost 3 competitions since 1972. How much leading do they need?!

Fair point. I suppose a better test would be to stick Sinfield in a top NRL team, where there is plenty of equal opposition, & see how he fared.

Agreed most of the time it would be, just sit back and enjoy the ride!

What I've found most interesting in this whole episode is Sadler has reminded me why I stopped buying his publications long ago, by refusing to post any details of the voting panel, nevermind who voted for whom - [urlhttp://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php/topic/235905-and-the-winner-of-the-golden-boot-is/page__st__300#entry2614975[/url

My personal favourite as to the reason for this was......



You'd imagine if any sport would be able to "man-up" in terms of defending their opinion it would be those involved in RL.

It's a good job that unknown sport, football, doesn't have a high profile, especially on social media as it decided to publish how every national manager, national captain and journalist voted to determine their world player of the year - [urlhttp://www.fifa.com/mm/document/ballond'or/playeroftheyear(men)/01/98/07/84/fboawardmenplayer2012-bycountry.pdf[/url