IRB player of the year - Nominees

 Duane get's my vote
Julian SaveaBrodie RetallickJonathan SextonWillie Le Roux
All follow in order based on performances this year.

Chronological order?  

 My bad, still do you have anything to contribute to this thread a part from nit-picking? 

 That's a f*cking joke.
Willie Le Roux? c'mon...... he's playing crap

My 5 contenders would have been:

- R. McCaw. Very complete year after the sabbatical with both the saders and the AB.

- J. Savea. Main try scorer at test level and very difficult to stop for any defense.

- M. Hooper. One of the standouts of the champion Tahs

- N. Nadolo. Outstanding first year in SR with the saders being the main try scorer with Folau. Contribute a lot to the good performance of Fiji in June tests (e.g. the win against Italy) taking even the task of kicking to goal.

- Btwin: - J. Se*ton
             -I. Folau.

 Vermeulen excluded from your list just say's it all really. 
McCaw shouldn't be there because as you've said, he had a sabbaticial where he has missed almost 2/3's of all rugby matches this year.
Michael Hooper deserved to be in the list. 
Le Roux deserved to be in the list last year not so much this year, although he's been better than Folau.

Yeah Le Roux shouldn't be there. Read would have been a better choice. Don't know much about any worthy NH candidates outside of S3xton as I don't see much of their rugby.

Just a little joke Cheezer....no malice intended. I agree with Vermeulen and Hooper would be my number 2. After I saw the US Eagles wing catch Savea from behind I'm afraid he lost elevation for me.

Michael Hooper in, Willie Le Roux out is a no-brainer .

Not sure if I'd pick Brodie Retallick ahead of Israel Folau or Mike Brown but other than those it's a decent list and I don't think they're missing any genuine candidates.

Fair point Cloudy, Julian was probably slowing down to look at all the jets. 

It has to be Duane. He must be a cert.
No sight of wee mcaaaw and the bent read. Sorry kbbs they are pretty second rate. Savea faded after a good start to the year. Still to score a try against the Boks and England also had his number.
Brodie is not in Etzebeths class as the future will surely confirm. Bit of a suprprise seeing him there. Maybe he stands out amongst a poor bunch?
Willie has done wonders and must be the most creative backline player around.Ca nt comment on Sexton but I guesss the NH had to have one player in the group. 

 Brodie played very well this season. Eben is still on his way back. Willie faded a bit of late and shouldn't be there. Hooper can feel robbed.

 Vermeulen? what did he do for the Stormers during all the season? nothing special, nothing. What did the stormers did? nothing except to lose matches.
He had 3 good RC games with the boks, specially the last against the AB but that's all. That's not enough for being considered for the POY award, at least not IMO.

@shezza,
McCaw had his sabbatical last year, this season he played it completely bar injuries and he's been industrious for both the saders and the AB.

I agree - it should be McCaw, however of those nominees I would go with Brodie Retallick. Duane Vermeulen must be up there as well.

Wille Le Roux ? Geez....I obviously have no clue about this game. For how highly rated Le Roux and Pollard are despite all the tactical mistakes they make - and Willie Le Roux cant tackle to save his life. What a joke !

 Didn't do anything for the Stormers? He was their best player and won their player of the year award... And he played exceptionally in all 6 Rugby Championship matches. 
I'm not going to comment on McCaw, didn't watch him and heard nothing of his performances up until now so must've been mediocre and quiet. Also explains why I thought his sabbatical was this season.

McCaw was huge on Saturday when the game was tight...by my count he made at least two critical steals.  

 And got booed  by the Poms for recieving the MOM award. Surely must have done well to get that response! ;-). Good player...legend, but not the best this year. I don't  know about Sixton,  but IMO it should have been between Brodie, Duane and Hooper. Duane overshaddowed Read, so must be a fav, but to me Hooper was the best this year.Can't understand him not being thers. Willie? What a joke!

 Beeno I am sorry I know you have this weird anti biast, and prejudice againgst Richie and Bent Read? But surley you must have some rugby knowledge. To refer to Mccaw as second rate, makes you look ignorant and stupid. Mccaw has been brilliant this year, he was once again brilliant in the weekend. All the stats tell the story, and make you look stupid, statistically Richie was one of the Top 3 players this season. It's getting more confusing as to why you resent Mccaw so much, when he keeps putting out consistent performance, after consistent performance. Mccaw was huge on Saturday. Even your countrymen think so, what does that say about your so called informed opinions. As for the nominee's, yeah what a joke. Willie? Richie over Willie any day, Willie has been very poor this season.

 I will make my imprtial observations as per normal.   McCaw could never be nominated - t he things he did well this year was tackling - the things he did badly was to gert penalized for transgressions way too often.   In some tests he gave away as many as three penalties - but the average seems to eb two per game.   
I do not think that performances like McCaw would ever qualify him for nomination.   I think he is an excellent player - but not the player he used to be 2 years ago.  
In the cse of thee players nominated - I would rate the two New Zealand player sin the following order:-
*  Savea*  Retallick
Kieran Read last year deserved the player of the year award - this year he was poor compared to last year.

Look 3 IQ wee mcaaaaw is disliked around the world and by opposition team who as you might have read say he doesn't play within the rules. Crowds also know this you cant keep it secret!!!! Hence the booing or the widespread nickname of mcheat! I didnt coin the phrase oak but its one that has been widely used. 
He may be popular in nz, the land where bryce lawrence was made ref of the year, but obviously  there alone and certainly not among folk who prize fair play!
And what did he do on his sabbatical - well he got involved with a british madam!That no doubt gave him further role model status! My punt for a guy who should be the real role model is Justin Marshall. Generally air minded and honest.
Now 3 I Q compare mcheat to our own Jean De Viliers. Can you spot the difference. 
Mcaaaw was pretty innocuous against the poms. For Cloudy's sake long may he be part of the wee abs team. 
A tip for the wee abs - bring in Luatua to help supplement the lack of grunt re your tight five.Duanne is the run away winner of the IRB player of the year. The selectors looked beyond nz hype, saw past wee mcaaaw and bent read and said no Duane is da MAN!
Moz mentions two crucial steals by wee mcaaw. Its like ou matfiled taking a lineout ball. Once the groupies see their oak doing something they go way, way over the to.
I seen it all before and know the story.

 Well brycy I do hope they take into account that broodie palyed for the Chiefs. That should rule him out as the wee chiefies had the papest pack in the Supoer Rugby comp you must agree. Further the wee abs pack is pretty pap as well.

Yeah Rettalik had a huge season. 
Wee willie was a joke for much of the season, flitting around throwing wild passes, missing tackles. He stands out as creative in the SA teams he would not make top teams in NZ. Maybe if he had a decent coach his potential would be realized.
Vermeulen faded badly & no wonder as he had some big games & that is hard to sustain for a whole season given his highly physical style . Read had injury problems this year so he was not as effective as last year. Richie got stronger as the season went on & his tackle count was huge. Not sure that they rate such strong defense/tackles highly they seem to go for the attacking players more. Otherwise Richie would be on the list.

Savea was dominant for most of the year as can be seen by the number of tries. Ben Smith was fantastic & when you compare his performances to wee willie you realize willie is not is the same league.
They may end up picking se x ton as they haven't given it to an NH as often.

 @mike,
McCaw gave away 7 penalties in 6 test matches during the RC, it's a little bit more than 1 per match and very far from the 2 per game that you note.
He's not the one who gave away more and he 's not far from other players like Hooper who, for example, gave away 5.
If this is the only reason you give for not nominating him..........

 Retallick for me. He was consistently huge in all Internationals this year and had a work rate 2nd to none. Streets ahead of Itsabutt! Vermeulen played great rugby at times but rarely was it for the whole 80 minutes which might count against him. A big game on Saturday may just swing it for him after a very average game vs Ireland as Retallick is now injured and may not have a further chance to press his claims.NZ players have dominated this award since it's inception so this points to another country scoring it this time! A bit like the Player of the year being given to Dusautoir in 2011 when clearly Kaino was the best. They didn't want NZ cleaning up that as well!!