Harwood a good bet for Player of the Year award

Carterton hooker Joe Harwood would have to be a good bet to be the 2007 Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Player of the Year.
Harwood, who was surprisingly relieved of the captaincy by new coaches Graeme Cheetham and Lofty Stevenson after leading Wairarapa-Bush to the inaugural Heartland title last year and skippering the national divisional side on a brief tour of Argentina, had his club season severely disrupted by a shoulder injury.
But once this year's Heartland campaign swung into full gear his powerful scrummaging, accurate lineout throwing and strong running in broken play consistently made him one of his team's outstanding performers.
The man who replaced Harwood in the captaincy role, Mike Spence, can also look back on a fine season. His barging runs from the back of the scrum was one of Wairarapa-Bush's main attacking weapons and his tackle rate around the fringes of the rucks and the mauls would have been huge.
Lock Tomasi Kedrabuka was one of the three finalists for the Heartland Player of the Year in 2006 and while he was probably not quite as prominent this year he was still one of the best lineout forwards in the competition. His mobility in the loose was also a plus, both on attack and defence.
Kedrabuka's regular locking partner Dan Griffin came on in leaps and bounds, literally and figuratively. He was a superb second string to the Fijian at lineout time and a diligent worker in other facets of the tight forward game.
The late inclusion of 2007 Club Player of the Year Nathan Rolls on the blindside flank would rule him out of contention for the Wairarapa-Bush award but he made a big impact in his limited number of appearances. There was no more dashing runner in broken play and he was just as assertive in his defence.
A couple of the new caps in wing Lance Stevenson and Jon Guillard had pleasing debut seasons in the red and green colours. Stevenson generally made the most of any scoring chance which came his way and shirked nothing on the tackle while Guillard's solidness in midfield meant he became a regular selection there.
Another debutante to impress was first-five John Dodd from Manawatu, the sole "import" in the Wairarapa-Bush squad who showed safe hands and tactical nous and whose generally accurate goal kicking made him his team's leading scorer.
For fullback Simanu Simanu the 2007 season was one of mixed fortunes, as much because of injury as anything else, but his brilliant counter attacking in the Meads Cup semi-final against North Otago was a reminder of his undoubted talents.