KEY POINTS:
Failures may have dominated the headlines but there were also many significant sporting successes this year. Dylan Cleaver and Michael Brown reflect on 10 of the best.
10. Warriors pummel the Panthers, Mt Smart Stadium
Yes, the Panthers were ordinary and ended the season with the wooden
spoon but this was the Warriors at their best.
At this stage of the season (round 15), Ivan Cleary's side weren't playing with pressures and expectations, given they had recently endured a six-game losing streak.
Few expected them to sneak into the playoffs, let alone finish fourth, and few expected this sort of result - a 54-14 hammering.
They played with freedom, flair and fluidity, led by offloading front-rowers Steve Price and Evarn Tuimavave, with Michael Witt and Wade McKinnon the chief beneficiaries.
McKinnon's mazy 65m run, when he left defenders grasping at shadows and those watching searching for superlatives, was one of the highlights of an often thrilling season.
While the previous weekend's 12-2 win over Cronulla kickstarted the Warriors' season, this result against the Panthers sent them into overdrive. Big wins over the Dragons (44-16) and Knights (52-10) followed.
9. Shane Smeltz scores a double and a contract against Wales, Wrexham
Shane Smeltz had considered bypassing this match, like a lot of his teammates.
To his mind, the unemployed striker was better off trialling in Australia in the hope of picking up an A-League contract than playing against Wales in Wrexham. All Whites coach Ricki Herbert convinced him otherwise and Smeltz was glad he did.
Minutes after this match, agents were asking for his number and only a week later, he signed a two-year deal with the Wellington Phoenix.
Smeltz scored an impressive double in the 2-2 draw with Wales and narrowly missed a well-deserved hat-trick, hitting the post with a second-half shot.
The All Whites (ranked 132nd) were without seven first-choice players, including Ryan Nelsen and Chris Killen, and came into the game on the back of heavy defeats to Costa Rica and Venezuela and a cancelled match with Ukraine.
Wales (ranked 75th) were at full strength, with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy and Robert Earnshaw.
It was a result Herbert rated as meritorious as New Zealand's historic win over Georgia the previous year and was a match that sparked Smeltz's rise in the professional ranks to such a degree, he was named New Zealand Footballer of the Year.
8. Ben Townley hits the big time in the US
To the untutored, Ben Townley's win in the US eastern region Supercross Lites championship may look a touch out of context in a 'best of' collection.
But make no mistake - Townley's win was not just a victory-overadversity story, it announced the 23- year-old Taupo man as a serious contender for supercross and motocross fame in years to come.
The US motocross circuit is clearly the world's best and those at the top can earn up to US$3 million a year.
Bouncing back from a nasty injury which wrecked his 2006, Townley also had to make up a 25-point deficit to claim the title after a poor start. And what crowds - Townley's first victory (in St Louis) came in front of almost 60,000 people.
He will ride Lites again in 2008 before moving to the top - the 450cc SX class in 2009.
"There were so many people that said I would never make it and to prove all of them wrong is just the icing on the cake," said Townley at the time.
7. All Blacks beat Australia, Eden Park
Hmmm... risky territory here, lauding the All Blacks in a year where they really only had one job to do and didn't do it.
But it would be a little churlish to ignore the retention of the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations and besides, we were struggling to come up with 10 worthy New Zealand sporting performances.
And let's not also forget that this test at Eden Park was the shining light in a year of gloom. The 26- 12 win helped erase, if only momentarily, the 20-15 reverse in Melbourne, a result which, in retrospect, should have served as an omen.
This was the one game where the All Black pack played without a single care about what lay ahead. They ripped into everything, their set-piece was tight and aggressive and behind them Dan Carter remembered just how good he was.
Carter was imperious, kicking seven from eight and pushing the Australians all over the park.
If only it could have lasted.
6. Greg Henderson wins UCI World Cup points race
Cycling took a bit of a hit when glamour girl Sarah Ulmer called time on her brilliant career in November after failing to recover from a sciatic nerve injury.
Into the void rode Dunedin cyclist and former world scratch race champion Greg Henderson.
This was no patsy field. Racing against him were current world champion Joan Llaneras from Spain and Russian Olympic champion Mikhail Ignatiev. Add to that Australian favourite Cameron Meyer and you have a truly worldclass event.
Henderson made an early break but saved his best work until late in the race, when he chased down a potentially race-winning break, taking the field with him. He somehow still had the strength to finish third in the final sprint.
"He worked incredibly hard in a very tight fi eld to take the title. It was a sensational ride full of intelligence, speed and courage," said team manager Craig Adair.
5. Black Caps beat Australia 3-0
Any victory against Australia these days is cherished but three in a row?
OK, this wasn't an Australian team for the ages: there was no Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist for a start but you try picking a bad Australian team (after all, they can pick a bloke out of the carpark at the recent Twenty20 and still account easily for New Zealand).
It was the manner of the victories, too. A 10-wicket thumping in Wellington followed by a series-clinching, breathtaking chase of 330-plus at Eden Park.
That battered old lady of a ground hadn't seen atmosphere at a cricket match like that for more than 10 years and the players responded by partying the night away in the City of Sails.
Hangover? Try chasing down 340- plus, like they did at a packed Seddon Park a couple of days later for a hangover.
As Richie Benaud would say: "Marvellous."
4. Sir Bob Charles at the New Zealand Open, Queenstown
Blokes get to a certain age and despite swearing blind they never will, they start playing old man's golf. You know, they hit short but straight, take no risks, just dink, dink, dink and fill time between shots cursing the young and their fandangled ways.
What old fellas don't do is smack it long, pepper the pin and drain the putts. And they most certainly don't make the cut in European Tour events.
Unless, of course, the old fella is Sir Bob Charles who, at 71, became the oldest player to qualify for the final two days in a major event when he shot a glorious second round 68 at the New Zealand Open.
He followed that with rounds of 71 and 70 to finish four under the card for a top-30 placing. Josh Geary and Gareth Padison were the only Kiwis to shoot better than Sir Bob, who spent all week saying his goal was to not embarrass himself.
3. Mahe Drysdale wins third consecutive world championship
Winning one world title makes you an excellent athlete. Two means the first was no every-dog-has-its-day scenario. Three puts you into the category of a superstar.
Drysdale's achievement winning his third straight world title in Munich was overshadowed only by the fact it was expected, such is his pre-eminence in the single-seat boat.
"I suppose this was a big test of me, to come in as a two-time world champion and make it three," said Drysdale. "Once I was in front, I felt like I could pull away from the field when I wanted."
The other incredible thing is it is no guarantee of a ticket to Beijing in that event, with rumours that 2000 Olympic champion Rob Waddell will compete for the single spot.
The fact is, if Waddell can beat Drysdale at the trials next year, then New Zealand is clearly well placed for at least one gold medal in China.
After his Munich heroics, on top of Gifu and Eton, not getting the nod would be tough on Drysdale.
2. Rowing four wins gold, Munich
The coxless four has been all about two crews over the past couple of years the Netherlands and Great Britain. Nobody really considered this duopoly could be challenged, not least of all by New Zealand, who for years had been contained largely to honest efforts from the outside lanes.
That all changed this year.
Hamish Bond and James Dallinger joined stalwarts Eric Murray and the inspirational Carl Meyer. With unstinting dedication and a work ethic that would frighten army ants, the four clawed themselves up to the big boys. In Munich, they passed them, despite being sixth and last at the halfway mark.
"We were wondering why a few people were screaming at us 'what the hell are you doing?"' said Murray. "We really only got into it in the last 250m but we were first across the line so on the day, we were the best crew out there."
Lost by a Herald on Sunday split decision to Val Vili for outstanding performance of the year.
1. Valerie Vili wins world championship gold, Osaka
It was shaping up to be an ordinary year for the south Aucklander. A shoulder injury had flared up and her father Sid died of cancer, leaving her parentless (her mother died of cancer when Valerie was 16) at just 21 years old.
But Osaka put a smile back on her face. In a head-to-head duel with shot put favourite Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus, Vili needed a big effort on her final attempt.
Coach and mentor Kirsten Hellier gave her with the perfect motivation: "My coach told me, 'You've got one more throw to prove yourself, where you come from, who you are. Do it for your father.' I didn't know what it felt like to win a world title and now I know."
That she does. Her 20.54m was six centimetres better than Ostapchuk.
Vili is now primed for a serious tilt at an Olympic medal next year and she will be infinitely better prepared for the experience than she was as an 18-year-old novice in Athens.
