There’s no ‘i’ in Team NZ, unless you’re a coach

Beauden Barrett, Lisa Carrington and Tom Walsh lead the 71 nominations the Halberg Foundation has received for the 55th Halberg Awards.

But Team New Zealand’s America’s Cup winning helmsman Peter Burling’s name is notably missing. Team NZ chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge last week admitted Burling wouldn’t be nominated because their feat in Bermuda couldn’t be ‘‘pinned down to one person’’.

Team NZ have been nominated for Team of the Year by Yachting New Zealand, but turned down repeated approaches to nominate Burling as an individual.

Burling has already picked up individual goings for his Team New Zealand work, winning the world sailor of the year and foiling sailor of the year awards.

Ironically Team NZ have had Murray Jones and Ray Davies nominated for the coach of the year award.

The veterans were responsible for helping Burling and the young crew get up to speed with matchracing tactics and the demands of the America’s Cup.

A Team NZ spokesman said that in their view, coaching is a very specific category, so they were happy with the nomination of their team of Jones and Davies.

‘‘But the sailing team is a full team - not an individual. And in our specific circumstance, certainly no person was more important or valuable than the next. So we were happy with just a team nomination to encompass everyone.’’

There are 27 different sports represented in the nominations.

The All Blacks, who won 13 of their 16 tests this year, don’t feature in the category. But 17 teams from 11 sports do, including the five-time World Cup winning Black Ferns, Black Sox, All Whites, men’s team pursuit cyclists and TNZ.

The All Whites are the odd team out in the aforementioned group of world champions. The New Zealand football team failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup after losing a home and away playoff to Peru last month.

Sixteen athletes from 12 sports have been put forward for the Sportsman of the Year award. The hotly contested category includes shot put world champion Tom Walsh, Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson, All Blacks pivot Barrett, motorsport wiz Brendon Hartley and Michael Venus (tennis).

Lisa Carrington is joined in the Sportswoman of the Year category by seven others including Ali Riley, Amy Satterthwaite, Portia Woodman, Roisin Giles and Sarah Goss.

Seven nominations have come in for the Disabled Sportsperson of the Year award, including fourtimes

winner Sophie Pascoe. Corey Peters, Holly Robinson, Jessica Hamill, Keegan Pitcher, Stephen Hills and William Stedman round out the list.

Nominees for the Disabled Sportsperson, Sportsman, Sportswoman and Team of the Year categories will all be eligible for the supreme Halberg Award – the country’s highest accolade for sporting excellence.

A shortlist of finalists will be announced in January. The 55th Halberg Awards ceremony will be held in Auckland on February 8.