Quote: Fylde_Warrior "I hope the job hunting is going well (sincerely meant BTW)
Open Rugby was a fantastic publication with a genuine zeal for international RL. Harry Edgar puts the likes of Sadler / Drake to shame. The GB / Lavish sponsorship was Edgar inspired. A golden era in British RL with events such as the WCC reborn / relaunched. I understand this may be difficult for you to comprehend Damo given your age etc.
Where a player was born is immaterial. Do you honestly think Kevin Sinfield is primarily recognised for his Oldham roots or his deeds with Leeds.
Just as Ellery will always be associated with Wigan despite his Yorkshire background.
I like many people like awards to be given in a just and fair manner. It matters not what the awards is. It seems as if Leeds fans and Sadler/Drake have been taken aback by the awarding of the GB. Erm or did they just expect everybody to accept such a decision because it simply went to a British / SL player.
Nobody can deny SURELY
1) The NRL is a superior competition to SL.
2) State of Orgin is the ultimate modern day elite RL contest
On that basis the man who has been at the heart of the greatest Origin domination in its history. A domination that surpasses Maroon teams that included the likes of Lewis, Meninga, Miles et al, the man who saw his club ripped apart then rebuilt to have a fantastically consistent season to finish 2nd and to then win the GF, the man that captained his country to victory over the next best RL nation, NZ, the man recognised by his peers as the world best in his position is far more deserving of the award than Kevin Sinfield.
Kevin Sinfield is a very nice person, a very talented RL player in lesser competition than the NRL. He is a Leeds legend BUT his peers (the people who know best) never recognise him as the best in SL or the best player in his position be it LF or SO. The raison detre it seems for orchestrating this lunacy was so John Drake could have his photo taken presenting the GB. We then had to drag the game into a kicking % contest to try to justify the farce. Oh less we forget England beat Wales and France. Imagine had they had to play NZ and/or Australia. Lets get it right come the old and/or the wet then Kevin Sinfield makes an immense contribution kicking a RL ball. Dry weather, the majority of the season, Wembley where was Kevin Sinfield GB sp Damo i know you love your club but the whole season, NO. Smith does it week in week out. Sinfield does it in the play offs in a mediocre domestic competition. Plenty think Wigan screwed up big time even allowing for the absence of Sam Tomkins but if you want to believe Kevin Sinfield is the best player in the world, you may find a bus waiting outside to take you somewhere for help.
The players do not think Kevin Sinfield is the best player in SL let alone the world. Leeds fan can huff and puff. The Yorkshire media led by Drake & Sadler can pretend otherwise BUT the people who know tell the truth (the players) rather than quote Big Jim Slade off an internet forum. How demeaning was that for a so call publisher to stoop so low.'"
Whilst I'm not particularly knowledgeable on what happened to the Open Rugby magazine, I'm going to assume that Harry Edgar and his magazine didn't adapt to the times. As far as I'm aware when Super League came around Rupert Murdoch's money was a lifeline to top flight rugby league and to this day it still is. It's not perfect but it allows the likes of Kevin Sinfield to showcase his skills.
Now the NRL I agree is a superior competition to Super League but the two competitions can easily be paralleled in some cases. For example Cameron Smiths Melbourne Storm demolished some teams this year in the NRL just like Wigan demolished some teams including Kevin Sinfields very own Leeds Rhinos. However I'm sure you'll agree that it's performing when it matters what really counts and that's where this debate needs to stay.
The Man of Steel is awarded for performances in the regular rounds and Kevin Sinfield hasn't had to perform much in them but neither have half a dozen players in Super League. However I'm sure somewhere we can find Kevin Sinfield's peers appreciating what the Leeds captain does when it comes to whats widely acknowledged as the business end of the season. If Man of Steel was voted for after the play offs then I'm positive that Kevin would have won it by now. However this will never happen because there's already uproar among some fans who think that the super league regular rounds are pointless because the Rhinos can win it from fifth. Awarding Man of Steel at the very end of the season would only add fuel to this fire!
I agree that Cameron Smith is an amazing player and has been amazing this year but lets put things into even more prospective. The State of Origin is Australia's premier RL contest and the Super League Play Offs is Europe's premier contest. Kevin Sinfield's team was unbeaten in in the SL play offs but the same can't be said with Cameron Smiths team in the State of Origin. If Cameron Smith led such a dominant side then Queensland would have won this years series 3 - 0. In fact Cameron Smith's team would have finished number one going by your logic that he's better than Sinfield. But the thing is the players are neck and neck when it comes to comparing them. Both have been on the losing side this year in big games.
Regarding Kevin Sinfield missing in the challenge cup - the same could be said for Cameron Smith in that second state of origin game. The Challenge Cup final is only played once but I'm sure that if it was played three times then there's a good chance Leeds would have the challenge cup this year. Well Leeds Rhinos did after all win two out of three finals in 2013. I guess we will never know how Leeds would have performed in three Challenge Cup finals in 2012 but my two out of three final wins point is as good as any.
Then of course there's the 2012 RLIF World Team of the Year. I'm not sure who votes for that but going by your logic Ryan Hall shouldn't be in this squad if he doesn't play in the NRL. I'm sure that both Kevin Sinfield and Ryan Hall would do very well in the NRL but I guess we will never know. All we can do it guess and compare them to the current English Exiles currently playing rugby league in the NRL. Take James Graham for example who was voted into last years world best squad in the world, it wasn't too long ago that Jammer was playing for St Helens and we all know how Leeds Rhinos along with Wigan Warrirors ripped the Saints apart in consecutive grand finals.
As far as I can gather your argument seems to be that the NRL is better than Super League and that's the end of the argument. I'm sorry it's not as simple as that just as it's not as simple to award Kevin Sinfield the GB for having a 100% goal kicking record in the play offs compared Cameron Smiths not so 100% kicking record in the NRL play offs. Kevin Sinfield is a better kicker than Cameron Smith and kicking is a part of our sport whenever you like it or not. Whats the excuse for Camerons kicking - did he have competition with the much tougher Australian climate? Is the English climate more favorable towards kickers?
If thinking that Kevin Sinfield is the best player in the world is associated with special buses waiting outside somewhere to take me for help then so be it. This is an opinion thing after all and I'm standing by this one all the way!
Finally I'm not a big fan of the current media situation in European rugby league due to very personal reasons. It is like a mafia in a sense but not in the sense that your alluding to IMO!
Nobody else. A Fylde Wigan Warriors supporter.
