Player of the Year: Open Voting.

 Competitions, Features
May 222011
 

We are opening up the poll for the final round of The FRONT ROW UNION Player of the Year 2011 voting. Ulster have named 45 players in their 30 competitive match day squads this season and the FRU readers have cast a total of 2505 votes, our highest ever total.

For those of you that want to view the full table of match by match voting throughout the season for all 45 players here. Below we’ve listed a summary of the  top ten players with the most votes at the end of the competitive season.

Top Ten Man of the Match Votes.

Player Squads Games Minutes Ave Votes % Ave
Pienaar 24 23 1773 77.1 341 14% 14.8
Spence 23 21 1525 72.6 213 9% 10.1
Humphreys 20 19 1352 71.2 173 7% 9.1
Wannenburg 29 29 2097 72.3 141 6% 4.9
Trimble 18 18 1347 74.8 140 6% 7.8
Diack 22 22 1231 56.0 128 5% 5.8
Gilroy 16 14 1006 71.9 118 5% 8.4
Marshall P 30 19 857 45.1 101 4% 5.3
Faloon 24 23 1271 55.3 99 4% 4.3
Muller 26 26 2027 78.0 98 4% 3.8

 

It can be no surprise that Pienaar leads the way after his match winning performances netting 14% of the total vote, but hot on his heels are local youngster Nevin Spence and the maverick genius Ian Humphreys who’ve had their fair share of match winning performances themselves this season.

South African imports Wannenburg, Diack and Muller also make the top ten with solid voting throughout the season and it’s good to see Paul Marshall getting some recognition for his supporting role at scrum half. Marshall is the only player to have appeared in every competitive squad, despite being limited to minutes on the pitch.

The Top 10 Minutes on the Pitch.

Player Squads Games Minutes Ave Votes % Ave
Wannenburg 29 29 2097 72.3 141 6% 4.9
Muller 26 26 2027 78.0 98 4% 3.8
D’Arcy 25 24 1788 74.5 46 2% 1.9
Henry 29 29 1778 61.3 43 2% 1.5
Pienaar 24 23 1773 77.1 341 14% 14.8
Wallace 22 21 1596 76.0 50 2% 2.4
Spence 23 21 1525 72.6 213 9% 10.1
Danielli 21 21 1515 72.1 42 2% 2.0
Court 21 21 1497 71.3 78 3% 3.7
Humphreys 20 19 1352 71.2 173 7% 9.1

 

Wannenburg leads the way missing only one game and playing for an average 72 minutes per appearance. The big South African certainly paid his way this season as did Muller with 26 games  (average 78 minutes played) and Pienaar who featured in all but one of the matches he was available for after international call ups. Import D’Arcy also features highly and the highest home grown talent is Chris Henry who despite appearing in 29 games this season averaged the least time, of the top ten, on the pitch.

Leaving aside the international call ups and IRFU player availability allowances  for members of the Irish squad it is worrying how susceptible to niggling injuries the players brought through our system are compared to the imports. Surely something for our fitness and conditioning coaches to look at over the summer months.

The Top 10 Average Votes Per Match.

Player Squads Games Minutes Ave Votes % Ave
Pienaar 24 23 1773 77.1 341 14% 14.8
Jackson 3 2 110 55.0 29 1% 14.5
Spence 23 21 1525 72.6 213 9% 10.1
Ferris 9 9 567 63.0 88 4% 9.8
Humphreys 20 19 1352 71.2 173 7% 9.1
Gilroy 16 14 1006 71.9 118 5% 8.4
Trimble 18 18 1347 74.8 140 6% 7.8
Diack 22 22 1231 56.0 128 5% 5.8
Marshall P 30 19 857 45.1 101 4% 5.3
McIlwaine 15 11 478 43.5 58 2% 5.3

 

Votes cast per games played sees youngsters Jackson and McIlwaine sneak into the Top 10 in recognition of their début performances and it also features Stevie Ferris who struggled to be available for substantial game time this season, having only made 9 games out of the 30. While worrying in terms of injury it does show that teh big man would be as good a bonus as a top quality signing if we could get him playing next season.

Keeping to the same format as The Man of the Match polls,  The Player of the Year Poll (in the right hand sidebar) lists the 23 players with the most votes received so far this season.

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  5 Responses to “Player of the Year: Open Voting.”

Comments (5)
  1. the mote
    May 23, 2011 at 1:12 am
     

    The problem with votes of this type are that some voters are biased, not least myself, being one of those who when watching IH waits for the inevitable mistake/blunder while there are those have other favorite players how else could McIlwaine feature he tried–frequently was played out of his more natural position but was never really tested in many games and while putting in reasonable performances never starred to the same extent as Gilroy

    Basically you have a few who will vote week after week for the same player regardless of the performance which may distort the overall lower ranking players in the table ,

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    • John
      May 23, 2011 at 8:31 am
       

      I think everyone knows this mote – that’s the whole fun of the event. For example a well organised club side could orchestrate a vote for one of thier players and get them well up the table and there is nothing wrong with that. It’s all a bit of fun, the players appreciate it and I hope the readers appreciate it!

      It’s as, if not more, viable as some of the TV Man of the Match Awards. I remember speaking to D Humph on those just after he finished playing and we agreed that he used to get MotM’s at home games for walking on and tying his bootlace.

      It does recieve approximately ten times more votes than any other poll in the Ulster Rugby network.

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  2. the mote
    May 23, 2011 at 4:37 pm
     

    As you say it does serve a purpose as long as everybody recognises its weaknesses

    The poor forwards do 75% of the work and the backs get the glory

    Similarly the awarding a” man of the match” frequently over looks the fact that in rugby it takes a team performance to win not an individual performance and unfortunately it is also true that individual mistakes can cost you a game and poeple remember the mistakes making it easier to award a” prat of the match ” but the player feels bad enough already without rubbing salt in.

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    • John
      May 23, 2011 at 5:07 pm
       

      Lighten up man – just because people are voting for iHumph doesn’t make them bad people. :)

      The first 5 winners of this competition were
      2009 – 2010 Andrew Trimble
      2008 – 2009 Stephen Ferris
      2007 – 2008 Matt McCullough
      2006 – 2007 Roger Wilson
      2005 – 2006 Roger Wilson

      So thats 4 forwards and one back to date. I think the forwards do get their recognition from the astute readers of the Front Row Union.

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  3. rekinek
    May 24, 2011 at 2:02 pm
     

    interesting point from mote – often the kickers get all the glory and people tend to forget that that was their team members who forced the penalty, not necessarily themselves.

    Then again the kickers get all the criticism should they miss.

    But then again : it’s so much fun to pick MOMs and POTYs :-)

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