sam every day of the week.

Roby and chase are great players though.

WOT NO WIRE

Roby every day of the week!

Followed by Chase.

Don't know who that third bloke is.

For those who think the old chap can only troll, a rational response.

I agree that any of them are worthy winners, as all 3 teams would have been alot poorer without their player

Yea but thats what he does and people fall for It [sizeevery[/size time

In particular, Saint Simon. When your mods fall for it, there is no hope! No hope at all!

questioning the moderation process?

Only three players that deserve a look in for me. Roby, Michael Monaghan and Tomkins. For me, Roby deserves it. The stats certainly don't lie and when you watch your games, you can see the influence he has in the side. Doesn't look like Monaghan will get it, as he wasn't even in the Dream Team. Don't know why, he's been brilliant this season for Warrington.

IMO, Rangi Chase never deserves it. When he performs he is a superb player, but also a liability at the same time. He's an inventive player, who can have the rub of the green and everything comes off for him one day and then another, it doesn't and can cause his own side problems. A player like that, either gets the nod for people for awards or some saying never, like me. He hasn't been consistent enough for me to be given a look in, never mind the award. No denying his talent, just one of those players. Sammut another similar to him.

because he plays the same position as Robes and isnt as good as him, simples!

Harsh .. but true. I'd love him at Saints though , I'm sure we'd fit him in somewhere.

Yes, you're right. Hard, because I rate both players. As I said, Roby is probably my pick though. He's been brilliant for you this season. Although Sam Tomkins is a brilliant player, I can't stand him and his presence as a player, so therefore I wouldn't like him to recieve the award. Although I think Roby deserves it, Sam is likely to get it.

Aye, he's very good

Do we reckon Johnny Lomax is getting the Young Player of the Year?

If he hasn't been consistent how come he won the Albert Goldthorpe Medal?!

They certainly don't always tell the truth! I remember a few poorer performances from Sam Tomkins where he managed to make it into that daft frontline team of the round which is worked out using stats. They don't tell really tell you anything that relevant.
Roby making 5000 metres in a season is an impressive achievement but he makes those metres because of his style of play. He steps forward from dummy half pretty much all the time whether he's taking the line on or passing the ball which will help him rack up the metres, but it doesn't really show how useful those metres are.
Monaghan steps forward from dummy half too but not always as often. Sometimes he prefers a quick pass to a forward and sometimes runs laterally to try to trouble the defence further out. Running forward from dummy half 5 metres and passing to a prop who makes a further 7 metres isn't necessarily better than running sideways, passing it to a player out wide who makes 5 metres but then being in a strong position to target certain players or put on an attacking play.
It's a long winded way of saying that there's so much more to playing at hooker than what the stats tell you. There aren't any stats to show how much better a team plays with a certain player on the field, how much a player takes out of a defence, how many times they put players through gaps etc.

The stats that are usually fairly straightforward are tackling stats and that's where Roby is most impressive in my opinion. Both he and Monaghan are excellent players but I think Monaghan is the better of the two based on what I've seen of him during a game and how dangerous he always seems to be when on the pitch. What Roby's stats do show is that he's clearly got a lot of stamina and his fitness levels must be incredible and that's obviously a benefit for Saints and for England.

And despite everything I've said I still think Roby should be man of steel going off those 3 candidates. Chase has been very impressive at times as has Sam Tomkins but I think both of those players are let down by the fact that they still make plenty of poor decisions during matches. As a Wigan fan I wouldn't have Tomkins as a choice for man of steel I'd have Sean O'Loughlin. He's the best player at Wigan and the most important. Brett Finch would also come close but missing the start of the season doesn't help.