National Rugby League greats fail to sustain until the final stage voting for the All Stars game
According to reports for All Stars game on the Gold Coast on February 4, 2012, a host of rugby league aces have been dropped out after the voting process which started off with 64 contenders of the National Rugby League.
Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Kurt Gidley and Akuila Uate, the rugby league notables will not feature in the All Stars game because of injuries.
Also, Robbie Farah, Brett Stewart, Anthony Watmough, Ben Hannant, Tim Mannah, Beau Scott, Brett Morris, Kevin Locke and Danny Buderus failed to book their spot for the top berth of forwards and backs at their respective clubs, according to the votes casted
by the fans.
These results were very contrasting to the results that had emerged after the initial stage of the process. According to the inaugural stage results, Stewart won 2732 votes, whereas the duo, Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran, topped the polls with 4,000
votes.
Glenn also failed to claim his position because his popularity amongst the fans was far below that of the Tony Williams who succeeded in winning forwards position in the Sea Eagles Manly. However, the polls also revealed that Glenn’s popularity was far more
than that of Watmough, who scaled even lower than him in the popularity ladder.
Meanwhile, Wests Tigers’ fan-polling results dropped out their captain Farah to Gareth Ellis and Adam Blair, who were clearly more liked for their performances in NRL.
While expressing his delight over the fans pick until now , NRL All Stars coach Wayne Bennet said,
“I've got to say I am pleased with the names the fans have put forward in stage one of voting, but I think the real challenge lies in this second phase, as there is a lot to consider. This is a tough task for the most experienced of selectors as not only do
the fans have to think about shaping the side with the best player in each position, but they also need to consider that only one player from each club can be selected.”
It will be interesting to see, what the final pick of 16 out of 64 contenders will be according to the fans, which will be disclosed by January 18.
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