Who will win the Hampshire Medal This Year?

[fulvio sammut]

The Hampshire Medal is the highest award that WA rugby issues to a local club player.

Who will win it this year? Given the evenness of the competition in the first round and the stumbling of some early front runners in the second round, the possibilities are fairly wide spread.

Having seen most clubs (other than Palmyra) play on only a couple of occasions at most, and then usually only for part of the second half, it is difficult to make any informed assessment.

From what I have seen however, there are a few standout contenders.

Cottesloe's David Cloete has had a blinder of a season,especially with his boot, as has Wanneroo's KK with his amazing running game.

Palmyra's Tajhon Malatai has played exceptionally well, scoring two or three tries in virtually every game.

Zack Holmes, the Associates fullback, has had a great season, culminating in his being offered a trial for the Australian Sevens squad.

Of course, backs are easy to spot, but there are also a number of forwards who probably feature up there as well.

Come on you club folk, name some contenders you have seen, and perhaps we can distill it to a group of 10 or 20, and put it to a vote. Let's see if we see it the same way as the selectors.

[Ecky]

Come on you club folk, name some contenders you have seen, and perhaps we can distill it to a group of 10 or 20, and put it to a vote. Let's see if we see it the same way as the selectors.

Snot the selectors - the voting is the same as the Brownlow or Sandover or Magarey medals in AFL: the match officials vote 3-2-1 after each game.

If want to know my votes for the season to date; I am pretty sure I am not at liberty to say

But then I haven't voted on Cott or Neddies or Baysie games this season. Well, not Baysie yet...)

Sometimes it is very clear as to which player(s) stand out during a match and sometimes it needs a review of the game DVD to pick them. I have noticed that, when I stay for the post-match presentations, our picks and those of the clubs don't always match.

There. That should throw a cloud of confusion over this thread

[brokendown gunfighter]

It just proves Refs have different vision to us mere mortals

[GIGS20]

Refs have vision?

[brokendown gunfighter]

impaired

[laura]

I vote Fabrice (2nd grade for uni) for the win!

Seriously..I watched Uni, Soaks, Paly, Baysies, Wanneroo, Kala, Cott & Wests games and I reckon of all the players Holmes has been a standout.

Kala's fullback is pretty good but I only really noticed him in one of the 2 games I saw. He did have an outstanding game though.

Uni's fly-half is pretty good and so is their openside flanker (not Pocock, the guy that plays there normally).

Alex Rovira is pretty good too but I think Holmes has played much more consistently so he would get the most votes for Soaks' games.

Taijon played well for Paly in the game that I watched but can't say I have seen enough of his games to say whether he plays consistently better than Holmes or not.

[paul]

What about Palei for the Dogs.
He's not had a bad game all year - ask Tom Hockings how he felt after being flattened and walked over by the big guy!
And KK should be up there in the running

[rick boyd]

Having seen them all a number of times, and being not only completely neutral but gifted with an eye for talent (even purchased talent like Palmyra's*)
Palmyra - Malo Lauti, Flip Manu
Nedlands - Zane Houia, Nathan Roberts
Cottesloe - Dave Cloete, Matt Battishall
Wanneroo - Palei Masila, Koiatu Koiatu
Associates - Zack Holmes, Nathan Cummins
Kalamunda - Dion Berryman, Kane Allen
Perth - Hathan Hunt, Gareth Cossey

Yes, they're nearly all backs -- they do tend to stand out more. And to be honest, while I think you could make a first rate back line out of the WA clubs this year, I have doubts you could do the same with a forward pack.

*Just kidding -- my little love note for Frank)

[laura]

Nathan Cummins is a great player, he has an excellent cross field, try-scoring boot on him and some fancy foot work too. I know he missed a few games though, does that have any effect on their chances of winning?

[fulvio sammut]

Yes, Laura, players get 3 - 2 - 1 votes on a weekly basis. If they miss several games it puts them out of range. That's why Filipa Manu won't win it.

[Action Hardcore]

Lachlan harris- kalamunda the man

[Ecky]

Having seen them all a number of times, and being not only completely neutral but gifted with an eye for talent (even purchased talent like Palmyra's*)
Palmyra - Malo Lauti, Flip Manu
Nedlands - Zane Houia, Nathan Roberts
Cottesloe - Dave Cloete, Matt Battishall
Wanneroo - Palei Masila, Koiatu Koiatu
Associates - Zack Holmes, Nathan Cummins
Kalamunda - Dion Berryman, Kane Allen
Perth - Hathan Hunt, Gareth Cossey

Yes, they're nearly all backs -- they do tend to stand out more. And to be honest, while I think you could make a first rate back line out of the WA clubs this year, I have doubts you could do the same with a forward pack.

*Just kidding -- my little love note for Frank)

Just from what I've seen (and I've seen Wanneroo a lot): Malo could be up there, but Flip Manu won't due to the games he's missed (although he should get a lot of early votes); KK would be right up there; Holmes has been very good each time I've seen Soaks, as has Cummins; and Berryman has been outstanding each time I've seen Kala, so he should get a lot of votes, but only in the games Kala won so that might count against him.

I've only seen Neddies twice all year and one of them was on Round 1 when they were very ordinary against Baysie. So I cannot comment on them.

[KalaFan]

Having seen them all a number of times, and being not only completely neutral but gifted with an eye for talent (even purchased talent like Palmyra's*)
Palmyra - Malo Lauti, Flip Manu
Nedlands - Zane Houia, Nathan Roberts
Cottesloe - Dave Cloete, Matt Battishall
Wanneroo - Palei Masila, Koiatu Koiatu
Associates - Zack Holmes, Nathan Cummins
Kalamunda - Dion Berryman, Kane Allen
Perth - Hathan Hunt, Gareth Cossey

Yes, they're nearly all backs -- they do tend to stand out more. And to be honest, while I think you could make a first rate back line out of the WA clubs this year, I have doubts you could do the same with a forward pack.

*Just kidding -- my little love note for Frank)

You're definately a swithed on journalist, Kane hasn't played first grade for about 7 weeks. Get your facts right for once.

---------- Post added at 08:49 ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 ----------

Aaron Minett may also be a smokey

[Hansie]

Magnum - Neddies 4th Grade Black - absolutely awesome season.....

[brokendown gunfighter]

Magnum - Neddies 4th Grade Black - absolutely awesome season.....

he actually made a tackle two weeks ago

well,attemped it