It is always hilarious when you read the Rugby League World awards.
Basically this small English Rugby League magazine talks up these awards they hand out. That are supposedly voted on by a group of “international” Rugby League journalists.
We all know that to English League types, “international” means a bunch of Poms, a few Aussies and maybe one token Kiwi.
New Zealand’s contribution to Rugby League is completely ignore by most Rugby League journalists in England. They are totally dismissive of the World Champions and have been for as long as I can remember.
Here is Rugby League Worlds team of 2012:
1. Billy Slater (Melbourne Storm)
2. Brett Morris (St George-Illawarra Dragons)
3. Greg Inglis (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
4. Josh Morris (Canterbury Bulldogs)
5. Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos)
6. Johnathan Thurston (North Queensland Cowboys)
7. Cooper Cronk (Melbourne Storm)
8. James Graham (Canterbury Bulldogs)
9. Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm)10. Sam Kasiano (Canterbury Bulldogs)
11. Nate Myles (Gold Coast Titans)
12. Sam Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
13. Paul Gallen (Cronulla Sharks)
Lets just overlook the fact that Ryan Hall is there for a second, because for some reason a handful of idiots in northern England think he is the worlds best winger for what ever reason….
They selected Greg Inglis as the best center in 2012. Greg Inglis played the entire 2012 season for the South Sydney Rabbitohs at fullback. He only played 5 games in the centers over the course of the entire year, and that was at rep level.
They’ve voted James Graham in as the world best prop….and he doesn’t even start games for the Canterbury Bulldogs! They picked him over James Tamou and Ben Matulino, who are two Kiwi born players that the voters of this award have probably never even heard of.
Once again, the World Cup holders, New Zealand, have just one players in this lineup while England, who are no where, have 3 players in this side. Figure that one out!
The best part were the comments by the editor of Rugby League World magazine, John Drake.
“While NRL based Englishmen James Graham and Sam Burgess made the final cut, along with Ryan Hall who emerged as the runaway leader in the voting for a wing position, four other Super League players only just missed out too.”
“Wigan duo Sam Tomkins at fullback and Sean O’Loughlin at loose forward, plus England captain Kevin Sinfield at stand-off and James Roby at hooker all ranked second in their positions in the overall World Ratings, making it one of the strongest showings by English players in years.
“Hopefully that’s a good omen for the World Cup in 2013!”
So according to the voters in this award, Sam Tomkins, Kevin Sinfield, James Roby, Sean O’Loughlin are the second best players in the entire world in their positions.
Ben Barba? Luke Lewis? Robbie Farah? Anyone that has ever pulled on a football jersey with the numbers 11 or 12 on it? No, no, no…..they would be third best in the world AT BEST according to the morons that vote in these awards.
These awards are a hilarious joke. They show up the ignorance of many journalists in northern England to any Rugby League played outside the M62 corridor.
These bullshit awards will name their overall 2012 player of the year…in January 2013. You couldn’t make that shit up!
Fuck Mad Magazine, from now on, buy Rugby League World. Hilarious!!!
In my opinion there isn’t many hookers better than James Roby and i also think that James Graham should be on there. Sam Tomkins is a great full back and i think that only Billy Slater is better than him.
A few things.
1. There is no way in the world that James Roby is where near like likes of Cameron Smith, Robbie Farah, Issac Luke and the like. No way at all.
2. James Graham is only a bench warmer at the Bulldogs. What does that tell you?
3. Same Tomkins isn’t in the top 25 fullbacks in the world.