Hard selection task

Press, 30 September 1983, Page 23

Hard selection task

There will be no shortage of worthy candidates when the selection of Canterbury rugby’s “player of the year” is made tomorrow. The winner will be announced at the annual dinner of the Canterbury Rugby Supporters’ Club at the Old Orchard on Sunday. The judges this, year are two former Canterbury All Blacks, Fergie McCormick and Alister Hopkinson, a former Canterbury and South Island representative, Colin Hardie, and Kevin McMenamin, a rugby writer for “The Press.”

They will consider performances in all Canterbury’s games this year, both home and away, and a restriction of past years whereby a player could not win the award

a second time has been dropped. This means that three previous winners, Kieran Keane (1978),.J0hn Ashworth (1980) and Robbie Deans (last year), are all eligible. Deans, through his prolific scoring, must be a very strong contender, but the list of possibilities does not even run out with the other six who will accompany him on the coming All Black tour—Jock Hobbs, Murray Davie, Albert Anderson, Wayne Smith, Warwick Taylor and Craig Green.

A strong case could, in fact, be made for Green. Not only has he played in all but one of Canterbury’s 18 games to date this season (he was in the New Zealand Universities opposition on the other occasion), but his

form has been exceptional throughout.

Three non All Blacks must come into the reckoning — Simpson, for some outstanding displays in the last month, Dale Atkins, a key man in Canterbury’s style of play, and the captain, Don Hayes, who has been playing some of the best rugby of his career. The supporters’ club’s dinner is being held earlier than usual this year. The booking was made when it was thought that some of the players- would be leaving next week for the All Black tour of Argentina, a tour which was subsequently cancelled. The guest speakers are the All Black captain, Andy Dalton, and Nicola Turner, the New Zealand under 25 women’s cricket captain.