G&GR Waratahs Player of the Year

At the end of each game throughout the 2010 Super 14 season over at the forum, readers have submitted their 3-2-1’s for each Australian team. All of these votes will accumulated and an overall 3-2-1 assigned for each match to the three leading point getters for each Aussie team. This is a throw back to the old fashioned best and fairest type voting that various media organisations, and indeed players, would do at the end of the match.

We think so much of the posters on this site that last year we introduced the G&GR Wallaby Player of the Year award, decided by way of the same method (votes made after each test match). King George won the title last year and was so overcome with emotion he soon realised that there was no longer anything he needed to accomplish in World Rugby, and retired.

Let’s hope that same doesn’t occur with this years inaugural (and once off it would seem) Super 14 winners.  To finish off our Aussie teams, let’s go to the Waratahs and look back through the season and how it all unfolded.

Round 1 v Reds

3 Tatafu Polota-Nau

2 Wycliff Palu

1 Luke Burgess

Waratahs 30 (Rory Sidey, Wycliff Palu tries; Berrick Barnes 4 pens, drop, Daniel Halangahu con, pen) defeated Queensland Reds 28 (Daniel Braid, James Horwill tries; Penalty try; Quade Cooper 2 cons, 2 pens, drop)

***

Round 2 v Stormers

3 Ben Mowen

2 Drew Mitchell

1 Tatafu Polota-Nau

Stormers 27 (Bryan Habana 2, Francois Louw tries; Joe Pietersen 3 cons, 2 pens) defeated Waratahs 6 (Berrick Barnes 2 pens)

***

Round 3 v Bulls

3 Luke Burgess

2 Ben Mowen

1 Al Baxter

Bulls 48 (Francois Hougaard 2, Stephan Dippenar, Gerhard van den Heever, Wynand Olivier, Jacques-Louis Potgeiter tries; Morne Steyn 6 cons, 2 pens) defeated Waratahs 38 (Tatafu Polota-Nau, Ben Mowen, Lachie Turner, Drew Mitchell tries; Berrick Barnes 3 pens, 2 cons, drop, Kurtley Beale con)

***

Round 4 v Sharks

3 Tatafu Polota-Nau

2 Daniel Halangahu

1 Benn Robinson

Waratahs 25 (Daniel Halangahu, Tom Carter, Tatafu Polota-Nau tries; Berrick Barnes 2 cons, 2 pens) defeated Sharks 21 (Ryan Kankowski, Adi Jacobs tries; Andy Goode con, pen, drop, Ruan Pienaar pen)

***

Round 5 v Lions

3 Drew Mitchell

2 Dean Mumm

1 Wycliff Palu

Waratahs 73 (Drew Mitchell 4, Josh Holmes 2, Lachie Turner 2, Dean Mumm, Tom Carter, Wycliff Palu tries; Berrick Barnes 9 cons) defeated Lions 12 (Tonderai Chavhanga, JC Janse van Rensburg tries; Burton Francis con)

***

Round 6 v Force

3 Tatafu Polota-Nau

2 Drew Mitchell

1 Daniel Halangahu

Waratahs 14 (Drew Mitchell try; Daniel Halangahu 2 pens, Berrick Barnes pen) defeated Western Force 10 (Scott Staniforth try; James O’Connor con, pen)

***

Round 7 v Blues

3 Tatafu Polota-Nau

2 Daniel Halangahu

1 Dean Mumm

Waratahs 39 (Daniel Halangahu 2, Dean Mumm, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Lachie Turner tries; Daniel Halangahu 4 cons, 2 pens) defeated Blues 32 (Rene Ranger 2, Rudi Wulf, Isaia Toeava tries; Stephen Brett 3 cons, 2 pens)

***

Round 8 v Cheetahs

3 Dean Mumm

2 Kurtley Beale

1 Chris Alcock

Waratahs 40 (Rob Horne, Benn Robinson, Al Baxter, Kurtley Beale, Josh Holmes tries; Daniel Halangahu 3 pens, 2 cons, Barnes con) defeated Cheetahs 17 (WP Nel, Corne Uys tries; Meyer Bosman 2 cons, Naas Olivier pen)

***

Round 9 v Crusaders

3 Phil Waugh

2 Kurtley Beale

1 Tatafu Polota-Nau

Crusaders 20 (Kahn Fotuali’i try; Dan Carter 5 pens) defeated Waratahs 13 (Rob Horne try; Daniel Halangahu con, pen, Berrick Barnes pen)

***

Round 10 (BYE)

***

Round 11 v Brumbies

3 Kurtley Beale

2 Lachie Turner

1 Phil Waugh

Waratahs 19 (Lachie Turner try; Daniel Halangahu 4 pens, con) defeated Brumbies 12 (Matt Giteau 4 pens)

***

Round 12 v Highlanders

3 Kurtley Beale

2 Lachie Turner

1 Tatafu Polota-Nau

Highlanders 26 (Adam Thomson 2, Steven Setephano tries; Matt Berquist 3 pens, Israel Dagg con) defeated Waratahs 10 (Kurtley Beale try; Daniel Halangahu con, pen)

***

Round 13 v Chiefs

3 Kurtley Beale

2 Drew Mitchell

1 Ben Mowen

Waratahs 46 (Drew Mitchell, Ben Mowen, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Berrick Barnes, Kurtley Beale, Lachie Turner, Damien Fitzpatrick tries; Berrick Barnes 2 cons, pen, Daniel Halangahu 2 cons) defeated Chiefs 19 (Jackson Willison 2, Tim Nanai-Williams tries; Callum Bruce con, Dwayne Sweeney con)

***

Round 14 v Hurricanes

3 Kurtley Beale

2 Drew Mitchell

1 Ben Mowen

Waratahs 32 (Drew Mitchell 2, Kurtley Beale 2 tries; Berrick Barnes 3 cons, 2 pens) defeated Hurricanes 9 (David Smith try; Piri Weepu 3 pens, con)

***

Semi Final v Stormers

3 Tatafu Polota-Nau

2 Kurtley Beale

1 Al Baxter

Stormers 25 (Juan de Jongh try; Peter Grant 6 pens, con) defeated Waratahs 6 (Berrick Barnes pen, drop)

Now this one went down to the wire. Come the last game, the semi-final against the Stormers, there were three players in the hunt. Drew Mitchell, Kurtley Beale and Tatafu Polota-Nau.  Beale, as is obvious from his season, came from the clouds after it looked as if TPN had it all sewn up half way through, but three Beale man of the match performances in a row so the young Tah fullback race into contention. In the end though it was the mighty Taf that showed his class. For a full list of votes, see below.

Position	Player	Points
1st	Tatafu Polota-Nau	18
2nd	Kurtley Beale	16
3rd	Drew Mitchell	12
4th	Dean Mumm	6
4th	Ben Mowen	6
6th	Daniel Halangahu	5
7th	Luke Burgess	4
7th	Phil Waugh	4
7th	Lachlan Turner	4
10th	Wycliff Palu	3
11th	Rob Horne	2
11th	Al Baxter	2
13th	Benn Robinson	1
13th	Chris Alcock	1

And there we have it. Plenty of players, plenty of points but Taf was a dominant force all year. But what are the other points of contention? Burgo was higher than many probably give him credit for. And the forgotten man? Chris Alcock. What a debut, but then again, we can’t deny the form of Phil Waugh.