Ireland coach

Ireland’s Kiwi coach Joe Schmidt is a surprise Halberg Award nominee for coach of the year.

It’s not common for coaches in charge of foreign teams to be nominated but Schmidt, who guided Ireland to just their second win against the All Blacks last month, has made the cut.

New Zealand sevens coaches Clark Laidlaw and Allan Bunting have also been nominated, as have Chris Waller (horse racing), Dale Stevenson (athletics), Eugene Bareman (mixed martial arts), Jason Pocock (surf life saving), Jeremy McColl (athletics), Kiwi Campbell (waka ama), Leon Birnie (football), Marcelo Lopes (mixed martial arts), Raylene Bates (para athletics) and Roly Crichton (para swimming).

There were 93 nominations in six categories.

Lisa Carrington, the 2016 sportswoman of the year and 2017 supreme winner, heads a list of 22 nominations in the women’s category.

She is joined by Abby Erceg (football), Alana Barber (athletics), Caitlin Ryan (canoe racing), Eliza McCartney (athletics), Evie Corrigan (powerlifting), Jo Edwards (bowls), Joelle King (squash), Jonelle Price (equestrian), Julia Ratcliffe (athletics), Kendra Cocksedge (rugby union), Lydia Ko (golf), Marquita Gelderman (orienteering), Michaela Blyde (rugby union), Olivia Eaton (surf lifesaving), Rushlee Buchanan (cycling), Ruth Croft (athletics), Sarah Goss (rugby union), Stacey Michelsen (hockey), Suzie Bates (cricket), Valerie Adams (athletics) and Zoe Sadowski-Synnott (snowboarding).