Our halfback best on planet?
Manawatu has its share of world- class sporting types
Reflecting on the high and low- lights of a year can be a waste of newsprint. The anthologies of beens and gones are commonly called yearenders, which media produce at this time of year when news is slow.
They are hard to write and even harder to read.
So with things stagnant in Manawatu over the hols, my pathetic alternative was to try to figure out which Manawatu sportspeople we can claim to be world class.
And there are surprisingly many even when those past their prime like triathlete Kris Gemmell and cricketer Jacob Oram aren’t included.
If we were drawing a long bow, we could still claim cricketer Ross Taylor. As far as anyone knows he is still a member of the Marist Cricket Club, even if he hasn’t filtered back to club level anywhere for yonks.
And pace bowler Adam Milne is still on the New Zealand one- day international fringe.
Cyclist Jesse Sergent has to be up there in his third season as a senior pro with one of the world’s strongest teams, now known as Trek Factory Racing. As a powerful track rider, he was the absolute core of New Zealand pursuiting.
Simon van Velthooven is up there too on the track, notably in the lesser known keirin event but with an Olympic bronze to his name.
Freestyle motorcrosser Levi Sherwood just might be the most famous of all Manawatu sportspeople thanks to global television.
And two years ago when he won the Red Bull X- Fighters Tour outright, that was certainly the case. He has been in select company on the tour since 2009 when he first won, at Mexico City, and he is still only 22.
Then there’s Manawatu’s two All Blacks, Aaron Smith and Aaron Cruden.
Halfback Smith has to be No. 1 just now because he has started every test match. And his supersonic passing game and rubber- man speed around the field mean he is the No. 1 No. 9 in the country by a country mile, and possibly No. 1 on the planet.
With Daniel Carter’s body requiring constant panel- beating, Cruden is poised to take over his halo, if not his undies contract.
Cruden’s strange two- piece goalkicking cadence did save the All Blacks’ season. All year it caused opponents to charge prematurely when he was kicking for goal and had he not had a double- take against Ireland, we would be lamenting still.
In motor- racing, Brendon Hartley’s new contract with the Porsche team in sports car racing puts him behind only Scott Dixon on the world stage.
Mitch Evans is in Europe but he is a junior on a similar path to Hartley’s in single- seater racing.
In hockey, for years we have had Kayla Sharland up front and Emily Naylor down back, with Sharland nominated for the yet to be announced world player of the year title.
Striker Nick Wilson is a premier player for the Black Sticks too, although injuries have got in the way over the past year. All three have been included in official world all- star teams. On the world inline speedskating scene are the Dobbin brothers, Kalon and Shane, and DJ Nation. There’s also Peter Michael whose family has left Palmerston North. My most captivating sports event of the year was the America’s Cup yachting, even if it turned out to be a humiliating fiasco in Frisco.
We were brainwashed into believing Dean Barker and Team NZ were infallible, then saw them squander seven blimming match points and now we’re going to do it all again with the same sailors.
Our conqueror Jimmy Spithill and deep pockets Larry Ellison were two of the subjects of one of my best reads of the year, The Billionaire and the Mechanic by Julian Guthrie.
My absolute best read though was I Am Zlatan, the autobiography of firebrand soccer striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, translated from the Swedish.
He might not be so well known in these parts because he hasn’t played in the English Premier League, but every professional team he has played for has won its league.
When people wish me ‘‘ happy new year’’, I now ask: ‘‘ What was wrong with the old one?’’