National Rugby League All Stars Final Stage polling begins
Final stage voting for the National Rugby League (NRL) All Stars for 2012 begun on Tuesday, December 27.
Fans will cast votes for their players to determine their spot in the finalised NRL All Stars squad 2012.
The polling results are very important for the NRL players, because now their fate resides within the hands of public, who may lead up to their honourable inclusion in the Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars match on February 4.
Voting is two-staged process, which began on Tuesday on the official website of NRL. Through the voting process, all 16 NRL clubs will fight for one spot available per club on the NRL All Stars team for their third annual showdown.
The stage One voting closed on Friday, December 23, in which Broncos’ emerging talent, Jack Reed aced the popularity charts, bagging the highest number of fan votes. His was in neck-to-neck competition with his team- mate, Petero Civoniceva, for Brisbane’s
only spot on All Stars pack. Now, from Sharks, Paul Gallen and Todd Carney; Eels’ three players: Jarryd Hayne, Nathan Hindmarsh and Fuifui Moimoi and the Raiders’ Josh Dugan and David Shillington, will be voted for by the fans.
According to rough estimates, over 13,400 fans participated in the three-week Stage One, which narrowed down a 64-man short listed players (two forwards and two backs per 16 NRL franchise). Now, the final stage of voting will narrow the selection further
down by selecting a player per club, until January 18.
This means by the end of the final stage of voting a total of 16 players will be part of the NRL All Stars pack. NRL All Stars Coach Wayne Bennett spent three days straight allocating the positions to 64-shortlisted players before the next voting session
starts.
While appreciating the fans’ pick Bennett said that he is pleased with the selection made by the fans during the first stage. However, according to him, the real challenging phase will be to choose just one out of four available options per club.
It will be interesting to see who the fans will opt for in their final selection, which will be revealed in January.
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