Earls IRUPA Young Player of the Year

ch2008

Had a great season, but did he have a better season than Fitzgerald or Kearney? Please excuse the fact that i'm a leinster fan

danthefan

You know what, after Saturday I'd give it to Healy. Phenomenal season for him. Must be the youngest prop to start a HEC final?

Fitz and Kearney are old heads at this stage really.

Edit - sorry, Earls has also had an excellent season, not trying to take away from his achievements.

Tefral

Congrats Earls!

Hope this thread doesnt turn into another Munster V Lenster thread.

Fitzgerald played a seriously good season also, Think there must not have been much in it!

ch2008

danthefan wrote: »

You know what, after Saturday I'd give it to Healy. Phenomenal season for him. Must be the youngest prop to start a HEC final?

Fitz and Kearney are old heads at this stage really.

Edit - sorry, Earls has also had an excellent season, not trying to take away from his achievements.

Kearney only turned 23 last month and Fitzgerald is two weeks older than Earls,they both hit 22 in sept/oct i think.
Healey does look immense but its an award for the whole season. I reckon they should give it to Hayes just for the craic though.

Riskymove

IRUPA CLUB ENERGISE SPORT UNSUNG HERO OF THE YEAR 2009 Nominations -

Rory Best (Ulster)

John Hayes (Munster)

Stan Wright (Leinster)


Who in rugby believes The Bull and Rory best are "unsung heros"??

How could Stan Wright not win it?


anyway back to the thread....Earls cam from AIL to Lions Tour over a year...I think thats solid enough basis for winning the award

ch2008

Riskymove wrote: »

IRUPA CLUB ENERGISE SPORT UNSUNG HERO OF THE YEAR 2009 Nominations -

Rory Best (Ulster)

John Hayes (Munster)

Stan Wright (Leinster)


Who in rugby believes The Bull and Rory best are "unsung heros"??

How could Stan Wright not win it?


anyway back to the thread....Earls cam from AIL to Lions Tour over a year...I think thats solid enough basis for winning the award

I see your point but its not an award for most progress,its for the best young Player and thats fitzgerald IMO. Its not fair to punish him because he wasn't playing AIL at the start of the Year. Earls is my second choice though for sure

Riskymove

ch2008 wrote: »

Its not fair to punish him

Punish him? a bit strong perchance?:pac:

Flogging losers was involved and no-one told me:mad:

It might interest all to know that until this year there was no award for Young Player of the Year it was called "newcomer" of the year and the last two winners were Cian healy and ....yes...you guessed it...Lukey Fitz himself.

ch2008

Riskymove wrote: »

Punish him? a bit strong perchance?:pac:

Flogging losers was involved and no-one told me:mad:

It might interest all to know that until this year there was no award for Young Player of the Year it was called "newcomer" of the year and the last two winners were Cian healy and ....yes...you guessed it...Lukey Fitz himself.

I Don't see your point.

Riskymove

ch2008 wrote: »

I Don't see your point.

there it is over there >


anyway my point is that given its recent history the selection may have been along traditional lines, i.e. "newcomer of the year" which to my mind would be stronger for Earls than the others who were already established to some extent

ch2008

Riskymove wrote: »

there it is over there >


anyway my point is that given its recent history the selection may have been along traditional lines, i.e. "newcomer of the year" which to my mind would be stronger for Earls than the others who were already established to some extent

Ah,i see. Apologies that is a good point.
Any hopes for next season coming through?
Would be good to Eoin O'malley get a run

anonymous_joe

There might be other candidates with merit, but it'd be silly to get into more tribalstic arguments.

So congrats to Keith Earls, not a bad season by most standards. ^^

stephen_n

Congrats to Earls!

chupacabra

Nice one. Good to see we have so much good young talent coming up. Thought Darren Cave had an amazing season, well deserved to be nominated and Healy.... this guy is going to be something else. And with the likes of Dave Kearney, Ian Madigan, Michael Keating and the Ruddock boys (to mention just a few) on the up and up, irish rugby is in a really healthy position.

[Jackass]

Kearney and Earls have already won it (as has Heaslip). They would be more contenders for senior recognition by now (despite Kearney and Fitz being 22 / 23).

Earls has had a superb rookie season and will be a fantastic player. A well earned award. Healy is a close second and has a long long Irish and Leister career ahead of him. He is now the best No.1 in the country and only 21 or 22. Would be shocked if he's not first choice by next 6 Nations. (said before this 6 nations he should be in the 22!!)

O'Driscoll got player of the year and players player of the year for captaining Ireland to a triple crown and grand slam, being the outstanding player and player of the tournament, top try scorer in 6 nations, top try scorer in Heineken cup, Lions tour (unlucky to miss out on captaincey), playing a massive part in guiding Leinster to their first Heineken Cup final and will also win World Player of the year in my book. It's tempting to bring up an old thread of "O'Drsicoll is past it", but Ruggie would murder me.

Stan Wright un-sung hero is well earned and Heaslip got try of the year v France, but I think O'Driscoll v Wasps (which was nominated) was the try of the season.

Also great to see Foley into the Hall of Fame - was half expecting Hickey this season, but hopefully next, can't keep Foley waiting, one of the all time greats.

thehighground

Do I sense a bit of begrudgery here?

Keith Earls was honored by being selected by his fellow professionals (was it Rugby Fanatic/Goose1 who thinks he is way over-rated ).

No doubt Healy will win something in the future, but at the moment Earls has

1) broken into the No. 1 ranked club in Europe as a starter with 10 tries to his name this season in club rugby (for comparison - Luke has 8 mainly from the wing)

2) got his first call up to the national squad, scoring a try on his debut

3) and a call-up to the Lions.

AIL to touring with the Lions in one season is some achievement nowadays.

Well done Keith.

(This is a Keith Earls discussion thread btw).

Riskymove

thehighground wrote: »

No doubt Healy will win something in the future, but at the moment Earls has

Cian healy already won the award last year for "Best newcomer"

thehighground

Riskymove wrote: »

Cian healy already won the award last year for "Best newcomer"

Healy was also nominated for this award this year (along with Cave). I presume a major + factor would be that Earls got capped & a Lions Tour this season. Hard to ignore particularly with the competition around for backline players.

IRUPA Young Player of the Year
Winner : Keith Earls (Darren Cave, Cian Healy)

Riskymove

?

From the OP I thought Earls was up against Fitzgerald and kearney but if they were not nominated, whats the point of this thread?

thegen

Yesall the plaudits lauded on Earls are fitting. Congratulations on a great achievment.

Leinster fan.

sm.org

Riskymove wrote: »

?

From the OP I thought Earls was up against Fitzgerald and kearney but if they were not nominated, whats the point of this thread?

None what so ever other then the usual my player is better then yours stuff , despite claims to the contrary.

anonymous_joe

thehighground wrote: »

Do I sense a bit of begrudgery here?

None at all. I'd have suggested Fitz or Kearney, but Earls has had a fantastic season.

Given that I think he's nowhere near fulfilling his potential yet the sheer number of tries he's scored is insane.

Podge_irl

It really depends on how they define the award. As mentioned, it used to be "newcomer of the year", which Earls would most definitely have deserved (Healy won it last year I think). "Young player" is somewhat ambiguous. Earls is only a month or so younger then Fitz for example, and while Earls had a very impressive season, I think Fitz has been exceptional. But then he wasn't even nominated, presumably because he's established now. They should have just stuck with the newcomer thing.

Congrats to Earls anyway.

myflipflops

How can Healy be nominted for newcomer of the year twice in a row?? Surely that doesn't make sense at all??!!

Earls was a shoe in for this. Healy's development this season cuminating in his performance last Saturday is very encouraging for Irish rugby as well as Leinster due to our general struggle to develop props. Earls had a better season though.

Healy had some poor performances and moments this year. He has had to develop his game. I was in Castres for the away defeat and he spent half his night standing in the 10 channel and taking on ball unsupported that day. When he was in school, he could dominate with ball in hand. He can't get away with it at this level and has had to alter his game to be more like a real front rower. It was visible on Saturday what he learned.

I think Earls has been top notch this year. OK, it didn't happen on Saturday (apart from the early break) but he certainly wasn't poor by any means and plenty of experienced internationals were struggling around him. He has taken some step forward over the last 12 months. Physically he has developed and the way he attacks the line with such intent is quality. Everytime he gets the ball, you think something may be on. If this guy was English and playing in the GP, the Rugby Club would be wetting themselves every week over him.

Good to see these guys who were lauded as future international stars very early as schools players coming through the system so well.

Another Leinster fan here.

escobar

Earls has probably made the biggest break through this year

anonymous_joe

escobar wrote: »

Earls has probably made the biggest break through this year

Without a shadow of a doubt.

I thought it was best young player, in which lads like Healy, Fitz, Kearney (Keatley Cave and a few others too) all deserve a mention.

As for breakthrough though, definitely Earls.

taidghbaby

earl deserves it imo!

Anyway as a prop, can healy not still win it up to the age of 30?