The Craic Player of the Season 2005/6


Who will it be ?
By Griff
June 20 2006

The Craic Player of the Season is a rare honour. It is awarded to the player who received the most Man of the Match awards over the season, in the event of a tie we put it to a vote.

This year the MotM awards have been fiercely contested, being won by a very narrow margin in many cases and with many, many players being nominated. It's fair to say we've had a good season and so the recipient of this award can be rightly proud of their achievement.

Without further ado here are the results:

Player Number of MotM Awards
Paul Hodgson 5
Juan Manuel Leguizamon 5
Declan Danaher 4
Mike Catt 2
Barry Everitt 2
Riki Flutey 2
Nick Kennedy 2
Topsy Ojo 2

All on 1 award

It is always interesting to see who, over the entire season has picked up the awards. Although it does reflect the general feeling of the site there are some exceptions. Mike Catt was runaway winner of LISC PotS yet only received 2 MotM awards. Similarly Riki Flutey has made a huge impact but only equalled Mike's brace, with old-school Barry Everitt alongside him.

Declan Danaher has not only returned to the superb form of the 2001/2 season but surpassed it, especially late on in the season - picking up his 4 awards in 6 consecutive games. Another couple of fixtures and who knows where Vlad the Impaler may have finished...

In the end, though, it comes down to two players who have both had a huge impact on our season. Unsurprisingly both are currently representing their respective countries at varying international levels.

Paul "Dodge" Hodgson started the season as a pretender to the scrum-half shirt with plenty of competition around him from new-boy Ben Willis, old-hand Darren Edwards and the threat of Riki Flutey. Over the season Paul made the role of 9 his and could arguably have been first name on the team-sheet. He can almost always be seen in the hotel after home games, usually with his family and is the most down-to-earth, nice bloke you could hope to meet. Moment of the season for Paul must have been being picked to captain England on their current Churchill Cup tour of Canada.

What can you say about The Geezer ? Juan Manuel Leguizamon has perplexed defences and stadium announcers across the country and into Europe. His abrasive running number 8 style has given Irish a new dimension. Since his arrival we're clearing rucks and stealing ball better than I've seen us do before. His enthusiasm is infectious and he is a genuinely likeable chap. More importantly Brian Smith is on record claimin that Juan is possibly the best number 8 in the world at the moment. El Ninho is a force of nature and he has certainly driven the London Irish team forward this season. Moment of the season for Juan? Who will forget him towering over a prone Lawrence Dallaglio at The Causeway stripping the ball with glee?

So, to make the choice we took a poll on the message-board between Juan and Paul and the winner was...

Paul "Dodge" Hodgson

170 people voted and in a close-run battle Paul edged his Argentinian colleague by 94 votes to 76. So, massive congratulations to Juan for coming such a close second but this year's Player of the Season is Dodge. Well done that man!