NRL Daily's Golden Gibber is increasingly becoming a must-have award for all NRL players, and this week after a thrilling round of premiership action there are a host of players in the running.
Raiders duo Reece Robinson and Edrick Lee, hulking Warriors rookie Konrad Hurrell, master and commander of the Rabbitohs Adam Reynolds, four-try hero of Brookvale David Williams and the Sharks' ready-made replacement for Paul Gallen, Wade Graham, all received honourable mentions for this week’s award, which is of course named after and awarded by none other than NRL Daily host John Gibbs.
But the Round 18 winner is... Ben Barba.
“Barba is arguably the form player of the competition,” says Gibbsy. “He’s definitely the most exciting individual player going round, he can do things that no one else can.”
After scorching the Storm in his hometown of Mackay in Round 16 Barba stepped up to new heights against pre-season premiership favourites the Wests Tigers on Friday night, finishing with two try assists, four tackle breaks, two offloads, two line breaks and a try.
With Barba at the back for the Bulldogs, Gibbs believes the family club can go all the way in 2012.
“Their forwards are going forward and their halves Josh Reynolds and Kris Keating are making the most of that,” he says. “Add in mid-season transfers Sam Perrett and Krisnan Inu plus the career best form of Josh Morris and you have the makeup of a genuine premiership winning team.”
We also wrap up Round 18 by taking a look at the Sharks and Roosters golden point draw, and referees co-coach Stuart Raper phones the panel with a judiciary update and discusses the questions surrounding golden point refereeing.
Get all this and more in tonight's episode of NRL Daily, the only NRL show that's on every night of the week.
Stream it on the NRL.com homepage from 7:00pm tonight, watch it on the official NRL mobile site (Telstra customers only. Action Pack required. Click here for more details) or Telstra T-BOX. You can also watch the best NRL Daily videos on your iPhone with the official NRL iPhone App (Official Pass required. Click here for more details)
