#adam sidlow

[actionrigger]

Brett Delaney of Leeds is tackled by Adam Sidlow of Bradford

[salfordredsheritage]

Daniel Holdsworth in 2011 Albert Goldthorpe Medal top ten

The Albert Goldthorpe Medal is awarded by the rugby league newspaper League Express to its player of the year. Castleford’s Rangi Chase won the 2011 award, pipping Wigan’s Sam Tomkins to the title. Salford’s Daniel Holdsworth finished a creditable 7th in the standings, joined with Warrington’s Lee Briers.

Parallel to the Dally M Medal in the NRL, the award is voted for throughout the season rather than retrospectively at the end. League Express match reporters allocate points to who they feel were the top three performers in each and every Super League fixture — 3pts for ‘man of the match’, 2pts for 2nd place and 1pt for their 3rd choice — and the points are tallied up at the end of the year.

The ranking method suggests the higher a player is placed, the more influential they were throughout the year, not only for their own team but in Super League matches as a whole. Whether you believe that philosophy or not, the medal’s stature seems to be growing year-on-year domestically. 

The top points scorers in the 2011 Albert Goldthorpe Medal were:

1. Rangi Chase (Castleford Tigers) — 40 points 2. Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors) — 39 3. Scott Dureau (Catalans Dragons) — 34 4. James Roby (St Helens) — 31 5. Brett Hodgson (Warrington Wolves) — 20 6. Jonny Lomax (St Helens) — 19 7. Daniel Holdsworth (Salford City Reds) & Lee Briers (Warrington Wolves) — 17 9. Danny Brough (Huddersfield Giants), Joe Westerman (Hull FC) & Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves) — 16

The next highest ranked Salford player was Matty Smith, who finished joint 35th on 9 points, followed by Luke Patten and Stefan Ratchford on 6 points (=52nd), Danny Williams and Ray Cashmere on 4 points (=76th), Adam Sidlow and Jodie Broughton on 3 points (=92nd), Sean Gleeson and Stephen Wild on 2 points (=131st),  and Adam Clay, Ashley Gibson & Lee Jewitt on 1 point (=165th).

The club standings worked out as follows:

Warrington Wolves — 124 points

Wigan Warriors — 108

St Helens — 104

Catalan Dragons — 98

Huddersfield Giants — 96

Hull K.R. — 93

Hull F.C. — 79

Leeds Rhinos — 79

Castleford Tigers — 76

Bradford Bulls — 63

Salford City Reds  — 60

Crusaders — 56

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats — 50

Harlequins R.L. — 48

The award itself is named after Albert Goldthorpe, who similar to Dally Messenger in Australia, was one of the greatest and most well-known players in northern rugby at the time of the schism in 1895 and of the early professional era. Other awards given out on the presentation night include Rookie of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement award, which in 2010 went to Malcolm Alker.