Yeah, Wally Lewis would never say Kevin Sinfield was one of the top players in world RL.

Look no further than this tournament and Sinfield has been in and around the best for England in each game played.Or were you not watching?

I don't have a problem with Sinfield as a human being and leader and nowhere have I stated that. He is not a halfback! Like a lot of other posters on these forums you have to look at the statement that made Sinfield one of the best and then extrapolate that into why with the population this country has we cannot produce a consistent flow of players better than the southern hemisphere teams.
The answer is staring you in the face , if you want to see. Give me a team of players with the brains and speed of thought of Sinfield. It can be done but it starts at an early age, takes time and effort and is hard work. Also it costs!!!

Hull have signed yet another player from Aus.

And people still can't see the problem.

As I keep saying the whole structure of RL in this country need changing. With London and Bradford struggling as well a sickly Cas and Wakey the game is fine fettle isn't it.

Every single one of your posts irritates me.

Filled with the same old cliches (did you get your opinions from eddie and stevo?), if not that full of riddles and an intimitation that you have some form of higher, profound knowledge without actually saying anything of substance.

Foe list!!

I'll have a pint of what you're on, overall he's been very average against some very poor teams and certainly didn't shine against the Aussies. Take the blinkers off, Sir Kev's best days are behind him, get used to it.

Put down the banjo and try reading the post I quoted again.

HTH

The MOS is awarded to the best player in the league that season.

Not taking anything away from Sinfield winning last year's award whatsoever, but the Golden Boot is picked mainly on performances in international games rather than club form. Sinfield was one of the better performers as England beat Wales & France in a tri-series tournament, whilst Australia & NZ played 1 test against each other after the conclusion of the NRL season. Playing against Wales & France, who are hardly the most competitive nations, you would have expected an English player to pick up the award, but it was a lot easier for an Englishman to win it last year on the back of playing against second rate international teams than it would be to win it this year after the World Cup tournament. That isnt anything against Sinfield - he performed well for England last year and was one of our best players imo, my opinion would have been the same no matter who had won it last year.

Back to topic, IMO Brough would have been a better option as an England half back, but that was never going to happen due to McNamara overlooking him in favour of Rangi Chase, in particular for the Exiles games when Widdop was unavailable. Widdop has been the #6 in a world class Melbourne team for a number of seasons and was high in demand in the NRL when he became available. He has played consistently well for the Storm and for me deserved a chance to prove himself on the world stage - again deserved it more than Chase.

Some people have over-obsessed with Sinfield and should he/shouldnt he be playing? Personally, I dont think he is the best out and out 6, 7, 9 or 13 available to England, but for his experience and kicking game can fully understand why he is in there. I believe he would be a lot more effective at half back playing alongside Widdop than Chase - who has done absolutely nothing in the tournament as far as I have seen - and hopefully we will see this tomorrow.

At the end of the day, at 33 Sinfield isnt our long term solution as a half back and in all fairness this will probably be his last involvement as an England player. That said, you need a mixture of experience alongside the younger players coming through and he has a lot of that. Like it or not, Brough was unavailable for England so was never going to be playing for us, and Sinfield probably was the best option available for us to go with.

I wonder how many people will have an issue with him if he leads us to the final, or managed to lift the trophy?

Yeah but the speed at which he will lift the trophy simply wont be adequate for International level trophy lifting. There are plenty of others who would lift the trophy with much more speed and impact.

In the opinion of a very small panel of people, who select from a shortlist based on a player vote.

It's as subjective as any other award - no more or less so.

It is RL journos and all fellow SL players, so the MoS is selected by quite a wide group of personnel.

Changed this year.

The players vote for their top three on a 5pts, 3pts, 1pt basis, but that vote is not binding.

It then goes to a panel consisting of two current players (Wilkin and Jon Clarke this year), one former player (Paul Sculthorpe) one member of the written RL press and one member of the broadcast RL press.

They have the final say on the shortlist and eventual winner, so in effect it is decided by the opinions of those five people.