I had my doublts over Dura last year... I thought his leadership was lacking... must have been just getting used to the language!!!

:)

well done to Vinnie Lia too




What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Durante Picks Up Top Award?
PHOENIX skipper Andrew Durante has won the club Player of the Year trophy at the club’s annual awards function last night.

Have your say.

Good work Andrew doing Australia proud

how did the voting work with this... Ifill wins everything else(not saying that Durrante dosen't deserve, been brilliant all year), so who decides this Sony award?

cuzzy was it like Ian Rush "I don't know what it was like about italian football, it was like living in another country"

"Voting in the SONY Player of the Year category was close. The night's supreme award was decided throughout the season by the five-man panel using a top-three voting system.

At the conclusion of each of the 27 regular season matches, panel members voted for their three best-on-field on a 3-2-1 basis, making for a possible total of 15 votes per game. The final tally saw Durante poll 117 votes - just seven more than midfielder Vince Lia. Ifill was third with 101 votes."

nah I reckon it was just that he was so nervous that his mrs would run off with a kiwi guy with us kiwi blokes being so much nicer etc ;)

so i assume a mixture of pundits, coaching staff, and upper management would be on the panel?

Clearly the best centre-back in the A-League? Hes bloody good but I wouldnt go that far. I dont think Ifill is the best striker either, top 3 for sure, but not the best.

whos better then J? I don't really think he is a striker... I think Ifill is just awesome!!! Van Dyke and Smeltz are better strikers Thompson maybe too...

I would say that McKain is a better CB than Dura. At the back who knows there are about 8 that are all pretty even. (McKain, Durante, Muscat[aging], Collosimo, Todd, Moore, Milicevic even on the last few weeks StanleyTopor) Don't rate keller or Vargas and is Princess "Sigmund koed me like the girl i am" leijer a CB or just a player at the back?

Id say best centre-back in the league is probably Milicevic, maybe a bit one-eyed coming from a Newy fan, but hes captained a European team in the Champions League, as well as captained the Young Socceroos and Olyroos.

Best striker is probably Tommy Tap-in, Shane Smeltz, completely overrated, but his ability to position himself perfectly is second-to-none.

Apparently the nix are now retiring his shirt number.

Very over the top decision considering how average defensively they’ve been the last ten years.

Yes, not like on-field presence and leadership factors into these decisions, right?

He led the team on field through a bankruptcy, ownership change, disastrous coaches, and license issues and helped hold it all together.

Well, these decisions are indeed very rare decisions. But if the Wellington Phoenix think his contribution of things like using his voice on the field meets a standard worth retiring a shirt then good on them. 

They should give the CCM players the keys to the city then :)