Well done to Barrett, but he won’t care, should we?

OPINION: Hands up anyone who actually cares.

That’s right. Put your phone down, stop typing that ‘‘outraged’’ tweet and raise a hand if you have any genuine interest or concern over who is World Rugby’s alleged player of the year, who the judges were and what the decision means for mankind.

Apparently New Zealand first five-eighth Beauden Barrett has won again. Well done to him. That’s two in a row. Now who won the year before him?

No idea, myself. Do remember little Wales wing Shane Williams winning one year. Not that anyone in this neck of the woods took it seriously. Everyone knew he was barely among the top 50 players in the world, let alone the best.

And so it is with Barrett. He’s played quite well this year and allayed a few fears about the quality of his goalkicking, if nothing else. It wasn’t so long ago folks were labelling him a liability, remember.

Has he played as well as he did last year? Maybe not. Not many people have ever been as good as Barrett was in 2016.

That’s just an opinion, though. And there’s the rub.

A group of learned types were sent a shortlist of candidates, ranked them and emailed them back to the awards organisers. And, bang, there you have it world player of the year.

In this instance it was John Smit, George Gregan, Maggie Alphonsi, Clive Woodward, Brian O’driscoll, Agustı´n Pichot, Richie Mccaw and Fabien Galthie´ who plumped for Barrett. All wellcredentialed people but, again, it’s just their opinion.

Given how low-key and modest Barrett is, there’s no chance he’ll get carried away about any of this and neither should we.

Who might have won it instead of him? Again, who really cares?

In a New Zealand context, lock Sam Whitelock was fantastic again this year. To be eight years into his international career and still playing with this kind of intensity is quite something.

His longtime second row partner Brodie Retallick has been on compassionate leave of late, but their combination remains one of the All Blacks’ great strengths.

Beyond them, halfback Aaron Smith has been tremendous too. As has wing Rieko Ioane.

One of the special things about what Barrett, Retallick, Whitelock and Smith continue to do is their longevity. Teams have had lots of time to suss them out and develop plans to thwart them and, yet, they remain effective. That’s the challenge for Ioane now.

For the rest of us, the trick is just to enjoy the fact that they’re around.

Whether one’s better than another is neither here no there. They are merely among a group of good players who continue to ensure the All Blacks perform well on the international stage.

For all the time opposition teams spend studying and trying to nullify New Zealand, the winloss record remains pretty handy. Two defeats and a draw from 14 starts in 2017 is hardly the worst, yet most people would agree it hasn’t been a vintage season.

But that’s just an opinion.