Tooheys New Medal Irregularities

[Burgs]

Does anyone else think that perhaps the voting system to decide the Tooheys New Medal, regarded one of the highest awards each year for the Australian Super Rugby Players, may be a little flawed and in need of a makeover next year?
Consider Round 11:

1 Lote Tuqiri NSW Waratahs
2 George Smith ACT Brumbies
3 Mat Rogers NSW Waratahs
4 Peter Hewat NSW Waratahs
5 Stirling Mortlock ACT Brumbies
6 Phil Waugh NSW Waratahs
7 Matt Giteau ACT Brumbies
8 Chris Latham QLD Reds
9 Chris Whitaker NSW Waratahs
10 Adam Freier NSW Waratahs

Pretty impressive stuff by the New South Welshmen, especially since they had the BYE!!!

Round 8? Yep, Brumbies Bye:

4 Stirling Mortlock ACT Brumbies
5 George Smith ACT Brumbies
6 Matt Giteau ACT Brumbies

Round 6? Mighty effort again! Reds Bye:
6 Chris Latham QLD Reds
8 Sam Cordingley QLD Reds

So, there might be the odd inconsistency it seems!
How about Mat Rogers getting Round 1 votes on compassionate grounds?
Round 2, Wendell Sailor getting ranked 7th with a torn hamstring and watching from the grandstand?
Speaking of Round 6, wasn't Lote Tuqiri 2nd, Matt Giteau 5th and Chris Latham 6th playing Sevens at the Commonwealth Games that weekend? All three played well but alas, in the wrong code and for the wrong team!
I think you may have got the idea by now, yes it would appear that the Tooheys New Medal is a popularity contest amongst Australia's marquee players rather than being voted on merit.
And as for the Western Force?
Well right down at Rounds 12 and 13 we finally crack a mention, Cameron Shepherd 5th & 8th, Scott Staniforth 10th & 5th respectively!

[.X.]

What the???

[travelling_gerry]

yeah...i have noticed that since the first round.....oh well.......get ya voting buttons going peoples

[MysticBalls]

Unbelievably sloppy work on the part of Tooheys New Medal ! For Rugby to gain the kudos it deserves, such oversights need to be corrected. Burgs - good investigative journalism! Really, all those points accumulated by players when their team was on BYE should be cancelled. Have they made some error in their Round-match count ?

[Darren]

Tooheys? Pah!! TWF Award!! Now there's an award with some prestige attached to it!

[Burgs]

Have they made some error in their Round-match count ?

Agree that the votes should be re-established however, the actual votes are made online by punters not officials. All the names from all four full (ie 40 man) squads are available to vote on each week, not just the 88 players playing in a full (ie no Bye) round.
The error is in allowing non playing players to be voted for however, the intelligence/bias of the fans voting really has to come into question if they feel the need to vote for players who aren't even on the paddock that weekend!
Half a mind to send a polite version of my original thread through to the Inside Rugby boys, might score myself a free jersey

[travelling_gerry]

onya Burgs...keep the Bastards honest

[.X.]

thats what happens when you let the public vote for an award

[The Duke]

Go on Burgs, send it thru to inside Rugby. Stir the it up a little so that they can catch a wake up!

[Burgs]

The letter has been sent folks, stay tuned for Inside Rugby next Thursday night!

[MysticBalls]

Yes you can have official awards by players,media,refs which would be of more merit.

The public poll is OK too, but the Tooheys New Award could easily be adjusted by the organisers by just deleting any weekly votes for players who didn't play - whether it was created by ; bye, injury, suspension, replacement, compassionate leave, missed the bus/plane etc.

Maybe TWF should send off more missives to Inside Rugby. After a lukewarm start they've really got on board the Force, including them as part of the four , not 3 +1 !

[travelling_gerry]

Just had a look at Week 14 voting..and it stands like this

1 Scott Staniforth Western Force 08.76%

2 Mat Rogers NSW Waratahs 07.53%

3 George Smith ACT Brumbies 07.26%

4 Lote Tuqiri NSW Waratahs 07.10%

5 Stirling Mortlock ACT Brumbies 06.25%

6 Matt Giteau ACT Brumbies 05.34%

7 Peter Hewat NSW Waratahs 04.75%

8 Nathan Sharpe Western Force 03.31%

9 David Croft QLD Reds 03.26%

10 Cameron Shepherd Western Force 03.15%



Not a bad effort on the part of Gits........seeing he wasnt even on the field.....

[Burgs]

Forgot to post the feedback I got. Hopefully the concept will be changed for next year if the intent is to keep it as a high profile Players Award otherwise it has about as much merit as Bachelor of the Year

From Fox-
Dear (Burgs),
Thanks for your email. I can only tell you this has been a concern for
us since the inception of this vote. We have brought it up continuously
with Tooheys and the response has been that it's nothing to do with us.
May I suggest you pass on your complaints to them directly via there web
site??
Sorry I can't offer you any more joy, but we hold a similar belief to
you and have not been able to convince them to change it.
Thanks for your email thought.
Cheers,
xxxxxxx

From Tooheys (Lion Nathan Australia)-
Hi (Burgs)

Thanks for your email - its great to see such passionate support of rugby. The Tooheys New Medal is voted for by the general public, and because of this, it often tends to favour the more popular/well-known players (not all of the voting public is as knowledgeable about rugby as you are!).

The medal really is a reflection of whom Australia's rugby fans feel is the best player...this isnt necessarily the same as who you would choose as the best player (unfortunately it seems to be a little like reality tv voting, really!).

However, some weeks, we've seen large swings toward lesser-known players, after a particularly good match. For example, on the weekend, Scott Staniforth received a huge number of votes... and he is arguably not among the most high-profile players of the Western Force team.

Hope this helps - good luck with the competition, perhaps we'll see you in Sydney for the awards ceremony!

Cheers,
xxxxxxx

[Sagerian]

If that's the case, we should nominate some unknown that we all continuously vote for next year.

[travelling_gerry]

. For example, on the weekend, Scott Staniforth received a huge number of votes... and he is arguably not among the most high-profile players of the Western Force team.

Hope this helps - good luck with the competition, perhaps we'll see you in Sydney for the awards ceremony!

Cheers,
xxxxxxx

Arguably not among the most hught profile players?????????????????????

Does this bloke live in Australia or is he in an Pakastani call centre???????