The 2014 Willie M Medal: Round 5
The 2014 Willie M Medal: Round 5
It is a major shock that Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei has never seriously contended for a Willie M Medal. Perhaps it is penchant for injury. Perhaps it is his lovable personality. Whatever the reason, his performance on Saturday was a pretty fair indication of how bad he can be when he is back. Rocks or diamonds is the nice description. He is fun to watch and can be great when he wants to but he must have driven the numerous Warriors coaches he has had to distraction.
Sydney Roosters v Canterbury
3-Daniel Tupou (Roo)
2-James Maloney (Roo)
1-Sonny Bill Williams (Roo)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi
Brisbane v Parramatta
3-Daniel Vidot (Bri)
2-Kenny Edwards (Par)
1-Ben Barba (Bri)
Judge: Cliff Bingham
Cronulla v New Zealand
3-Manu Vatuvei (War)
2-Dane Nielsen (War)
1-Chad Townsend (War)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi
Penrith v Canberra
3-Matt Allwood (Can)
2-Terry Campese (Can)
1-Matt Moylan (Pen)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi
South Sydney v St George Illawarra
3-Adam Quinlan (Dra)
2-Leeson Ah Mau (Dra)
1-Josh Dugan (Dra)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi
Melbourne v Gold Coast
3-Will Chambers (Mel)
2-Ben Hampton (Mel)
1-Dayne Weston (Mel)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi
Wests Tigers v Manly
3-Brett Stewart (Man)
2-Braith Anasta (Tig)
1-Tom Symonds (Man)
Judge: Matt Fisk
North Queensland v Newcastle
3-Joey Leilua (New)
2-Akuila Uate (New)
1-Darius Boyd (New)
Judge: Nick Tedeschi
Leaderboard
9: Joey Leilua (New)
7: Blake Ayshford (Cro)
6: Daniel Holdsworth (Cro), Jonathan Wright (Cro)
5: Sam Burgess (Sout), Kyle Feldt (Cow), Ben Hampton (Mel), Simon Mannering (War), Lote Tuqiri (Sou), Manu Vatuvei (War), Jack Wighton (Can), Akuila Uate (New)
4: Will Chambers (Mel), Mahe Fonua (Mel), Dane Gagai (New), James Maloney (Roo), Anthony Minichiello (Roo), Sonny Bill Williams (Roo), Daniel Vidot (Bri)
Tags: Manu Vatuvei, Willie M Medal
Re. Vidot over Barba (and indeed Edwards, who I’ll come to in a minute), it was a tough call. Barba was very poor, but he wasn’t responsible for any of the line breaks Parra came up with – the Broncos’ 3/4 was. Ideally, I’d have like to give each of them 3 votes, but it doesn’t work that way.
Ineffectual forwards are sometimes harder to spot than backs who make errors, but I was amazed afterwards to see that Kenny Edwards had played 59 minutes. I thought he had played about half that based on the impact he had, so gave him 2 votes.
How did Vidot get the 3 over Barba? PLease explain.
Though the Sharks won how Jono Wright didn’t make the worst 3 on ground is astounding. Everytime it went to his wing he stuffed up, every time it went Stapleton’s way he scored. Wright is a very average winger, Simple Jack would be better.
Is it just my imagination or do you guys vote way more for outside backs then all the other positions? Most votes seem to go to backs who bomb tries or have bad defensive reads. There’s more to look for then that. Just like the Dally M, you’ve no chance if you’re a forward, unless you’re Tony Williams.