ABs’ omission ‘beggars belief’
OPINION: The All Blacks - unfairly snubbed by the Halberg Award organisers - are a victim of the Olympic Games Year Syndrome.
It beggars belief the All Blacks - the 2016 Supreme Award winners - cannot make the team of the year shortlist after setting a world record for 18 consecutive tier one test victories.
How have the silver medallist New Zealand track cycling sprint team made the final cut ahead of Kieran Read’s Men in Black?
The All Blacks’ efforts in 2016 were all the more worthy because the team had lost six of of their greatest players after the 2015 Rugby World Cup victory.
While the All Blacks may not have won the teams category - it’s hard to look beyond rowers Hamish Bond and Eric Murray for international dominance - they deserved to be a finalist and have reason to feel aggrieved at their omission.
Maybe it’s because they lost that test to Ireland in Chicago. Yet that can’t be the case - the cyclists came second in their Olympic final. Yes, cycling is a tough sport, but can the sprinters’ Rio effort compare to the All Blacks 2016 record of 13 wins from 14 matches?
The All Blacks can’t get too greedy - they’ve won seven team of the year awards and the supreme accolade three times. But this is the first time since 2007 (for obvious reasons) when an All Blacks individual or the collective haven’t made the Halbergs cut.
It’s difficult for non-Olympic sports to contend in an Olympic year.
The Halberg organisers should give themselves some breathing space by having five finalists in each category at the time of each Olympic quadrennial.
Rugby has been short-changed in the top sportsman category too.
Most people, asked to name the New Zealand male athlete whose feats most gripped the nation in 2016, would probably plump for Beauden Barrett alongside evergreen rowing champion Mahe Drysdale.
Could anyone outside the Duco organisation seriously suggest Joseph Parker’s heavyweight ’’world’’ title victory over Andy Ruiz trumped Barrett’s achievement as World Rugby player of the year?
Parker certainly captured the Kiwi public’s attention, but, as respected boxing writer Thomas Hauser’s asserted, labelling his win over Ruiz a world heavyweight title fight is ‘‘an embarrassment to the sport’’.
The other two men’s finalists were from track and field - middle distance runner Nick Willis and shot putter Tom Walsh.
Both won world indoor titles and claimed bronze medals in Rio.
Their records are identical, but if you had to separate them, 1500m (eligible for the supreme Halberg Award): Joseph Parker (boxing), Mahe Drysdale (rowing), Nick Willis (athletics) Tom Walsh (athletics). (eligible for the supreme Halberg Award): Lisa Carrington (canoeing), Luuka Jones (canoeing), Lydia Ko (golf), Valerie Adams (athletics). (eligible for the supreme Halberg Award): Anna Grimaldi (athletics), Liam Malone (athletics), Mary Fisher (swimming), Sophie Pascoe (swimming). (eligible for the supreme Halberg Award): Men’s 49er – Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (yachting), Men’s Pair – Hamish Bond and Eric Murray (rowing), Team Sprint – Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster (cycling), Women’s 470 – Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (yachting). Gordon Walker (canoeing), Hamish Willcox (yachting), Jeremy McColl (athletics), Steve Hansen (rugby). Campbell Stewart (cycling), Dylan Schmidt (trampoline), Finn Bilous (snow sports), Maynard Peel (cycling BMX). is one of the blue riband Olympic events and Willis was the oldest 1500m medallist in Games history.
The other shortlist surprise was pole vaulter Eliza McCartney’s omission from the final four.
Lydia Ko, the major-winning golfer, and kayaking queen Lisa Carrington are tough competition, but did canoe slalom paddler Luuka Jones’ Rio Olympic Games silver medal really trump McCartney’s pole vaulting bronze in one of track and field’s more difficult disciplines?
Glance down the Halbergs list and you’ll see another glaring anomaly.
All Blacks head honcho Steve Hansen and McCartney’s pole
Halberg Awards finalists Sportsman of the Year
Sportswoman of the Year Disabled Sportsperson of the Year Team of the Year Coach of the Year: Emerging Talent:
vaulting coach Jeremy McColl are deserved finalists - yet their athletes aren’t. Go figure.
Deciding the winner of the disability category must surely cause selectors some sleepless nights. How do you choose between Rio Paralympics gold medallists Liam Malone, Sophie Pascoe, Anna Grimaldi and Mary Fisher?
It will be probably come down to Malone, the Blade Runner, for his deeds on the athletics track and Pascoe, who, with her three gold medals and two silvers, became our most decorated Paralympian of all-time.
Who’d want to be a Halberg judge?