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Sport Nation
Why Super Rugby's new player of the year award format is flawed
Sport Nation • February 5th, 2025 12:30 pm
Photo: Photosport
On Tuesday, Super Rugby Pacific turned a few heads with the announcement of a brand-new format for the Player of the Year award.
Based on the model used by the NRL with the Dally M Medal and the AFL's Brownlow Medal, the top three players from each match on both teams will receive three votes, two votes, and one vote respectively.
Those votes will accumulate throughout the regular season, when the top recipient will be crowned the competition's MVP.
The primary difference from its 13-man counterpart is that those votes will be cast by the opposition coach and captain, rather than an independent panel of judges.
The prize will be awarded to the winning player at the end of the 16-round tournament, before it enters the knockout stages.
CEO Jack Mesley believes allowing coaches and players to determine the scoring will add a greater sense of prestige to the award.
"We think that there is no one better placed to work through who are the best players on the field than the people that have been working all week to work through how they will combat those opposition players," Mesley told Sport Nation's Beaver & Guy.
"We also know that for players themselves, a peer award is the highest accolade. We think that's going to create a really intriguing race because essentially six players from each game will receive some points.
"There should be great interest and great movement on the ladder, and players will really hold the award in high esteem."
But Beaver & Guy co-host and former Chiefs stalwart Stephen Donald says he's ‘not convinced’ by the decision to allow players and coaches the power to dictate the award.
"Coaches and players can become bitter people," noted Donald, who made 106 appearances for the Chiefs.
"Is that now open to some dummy-spitting or skullduggery when it comes to the voting?
"I just feel you're too close to it when you're in the actual fixture. I get the point about them being able to relate to the tactics but maybe if you get a dozen respected journos or past players and do it that way."
Blues after the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final I Photo: Photosport
Donald also suggests voting for the award should stretch beyond the regular season and include the qualifying finals, semi-finals and final.
"The NRL does it for regular season but I think it's missing a trick because I think if you are the best player in the competition - you carry your team to glory.
"I would love to see the playoffs involved and I know that takes away the players who aren't involved, but are you player of the year if your team doesn't make the playoffs?"
Another pivot from the fashion in which the Dally M operates is the omission of any public blackout period.
While the NRL puts all voting information behind a curtain to fans and players after Round 12 of their 26-round season, Super Rugby Pacific will allow complete transparency right up until the final match of the round robin.
But Mesley admits there will be scope for some tweaks to be made for future seasons.
"For us, being a relatively short competition window, we're not going to put it behind closed doors to start with," Mesley explained.
"We're going to let it play out and see how that goes.
"Like all these things that you introduce, we'll review it, and if we feel we need to make changes for the following years, we'll do that.
"But at the moment, across the 16 rounds of Super Rugby Pacific, it'll be pretty open."
Mesley says they'll be looking to expand the trophy cabinet further by adding more categories down the line.
"Going forward, we definitely want to review other awards we should be introducing into the competition to celebrate excellence, to celebrate people's achievements and contributions.
"This will be something that we look to expand on. As we look into the future, things like awards nights will also be assessed."
The first votes will be cast on February 14, when the Crusaders host the Hurricanes.
