All Whites, All Blacks and Kiwis go head to head

All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen has been nominated in the sportsman of the year category and his team gets a nod in the team of the year category at next month's Halberg Awards. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The All Whites, the All Blacks and the Kiwis will go head to head in three major categories at next month's annual Halberg Sports awards.

The All Whites' unbeaten run at last year's World Cup finals in South Africa, which captured the imagination of the country, has seen skipper Ryan Nelsen (sportsman of the year), the team (sports team of the year) and coach Ricki Herbert (coach of the year) named as finalists.

The All Blacks and the Kiwis have a similar number of finalists - skippers Richie McCaw and Benji Marshall (sportsman), the All Blacks and Kiwis (sports team) and Graham Henry and Stephen Kearney (coach).

Joining McCaw, Nelsen and Marshall among the sportsman of the Year finalists is X Games freeski champion Jossi Wells.

In the sportswoman of the year category all five finalists - Valerie Adams (athletics), Casey Williams (netball), Joelle King (squash), Nikki Hamblin (athletics) and Alison Shanks (cycling) - were chosen for performances at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Adams retained her shot put title with a new Commonwealth record, Williams captained the Silver Ferns to the dramatic overtime gold medal win against Australia, King won a gold and silver medal in squash, Hamblin won silver medals in the 800 and 1500m and Shanks won gold in the individual pursuit.

While rowing has had a strong presence at recent Halberg Awards, in a year that New Zealand won 10 medals, including three golds at the 2010 world championships at Lake Karapiro, only the pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond is listed among the 2010 finalists.

Apart from the All Whites, the All Blacks who went unbeaten in the Tri-Nations and end-of-season UK tour and the Kiwis who beat Australia 16-12 in the final of the Four Nations, the other finalists for team of the year are the Silver Ferns for their gold medal at the Commonwealth Games gold and the rowing pair world champions Murray and Bond.

Joining the other coach of the year finalists is Gordon Tietjens who guided New Zealand to a fourth straight rugby sevens gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

In the emerging talent category, limited to individuals yet to achieve international success at elite senior level, carrying a $15,000 scholarship are Jacko Gill (athletics), Gareth Kean (swimming), Tyler Bleyendaal (rugby) and Julia Edward (rowing).

A feature of the three categories from which the supreme Halberg Award winner will be chosen - sportsman, sportswoman and team - is that for the first time there are 14 rather than the usual 12 finalists, with five named in the sportswoman and sports team categories.

Voting for the Westpac Halberg Awards is carried out by an academy comprising 28 media representatives, coaches and athletes who have excelled at the highest level and because it required several decimal places to separate fourth and fifth in the sportswoman and team categories, the Halberg Trust has decided to put forward five nominations in each case.

There have been other occasions where five finalists were named, including last year in the sportsman category, but this is the first time five finalists have been included in two categories.

Last year's Halberg winner was Valerie Adams.

In a new initiative the public has the chance to vote for New Zealand's favourite sporting moment, sponsored by government sports funding agency Sparc, which will also be announced at the dinner.

Eight sporting moments involving New Zealand teams and individuals during 2010 have been selected by a panel. Voting is now open and full details are available at www.skysport.co.nz.

The finalists for the 2010 Halberg Awards are:

Sportsman of the year: Richie McCaw (rugby), Benji Marshall (rugby league), Ryan Nelsen (soccer) and Jossi Wells (freeskiing, X Games).

Sportswoman of the year: Valerie Adams (athletics), Nikki Hamblin (athletics), Joelle King (squash), Alison Shanks (cycling) and Casey Williams (netball).

New Zealand sports team of the year: All Blacks (rugby), All Whites (soccer), Kiwis (rugby league), Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (rowing) and Silver Ferns (netball).

The supreme trophy, the Halberg Award, will be chosen from one of the above.

- NZPA