NLL Insider

As promised, here are the results from the guys on who they deem the top dawgs this year.

A little different than what the Insider’s went with, but nothing too outta left field. Looks like everyone is pretty much on the same page (media and players on the same page!!!).

Either way, right now at least, nothing short of John Grant scoring ten a game from here on out will keep Athan Iannucci from winning the big one.

What I did for the players, since the survey we do with them is always multiple choice, was offered them a handful of options of who I thought would be in the running. As always, there was room for write-ins too, so anyone was fair game.

Also asked the guys to be as unbiased as they possibly could be, so no supporting your homies just cuz they’re your homies.

And with that said, I wanna make a huge apology to one of this year’s best, if not the best, D rooks. As soon as I hit send and let the player poll go into cyber space, I realized I made a monster omission on the best rookie question.

I left off Portland defender Tyler Codron. Although none of the guys blasted me for leaving him off the list, I knew he shoulda been on there for sure, 100% my bad. Dudes been a steady presence in the Jax’s end and has been pretty effective on the break too. Kojima is beyond right where he has the PoCo Saint stud ranked, and I gotta give the kid major props for a slick rookie season (sorry dude).

Anyways, onto what you guys really care about, the guy’s picks…

Comments:

1. Who is your pick for MVP at this point in the season?

“I think Nucc will win it, but you gotta give mad props to Whip for the show he’s puttin’ on in the T dot. The guy consistently steals games for his team!!” on Athan Iannucci

“The Mammoth goes as Gavin Prout goes.”

“Setting up the play is better than finishing it. Setting up the play is more important. JT leads in points for a reason.” on John Tavares

“Always liked Whipper. He’s definitely giving those guys a chance to win every night.”

“He’s getting a lot of goals, but more importantly, he is getting big goals. When the game is on the line, he is doing what he does best, score.” on Athan Iannucci

“I think Doyle’s importance is lost with guys like Zywicki and Wiles also playing well. But take Doyler out of the equation and those two guys are only scoring half the amount.”

2. Who is your pick for best defender at this point in the season?

“The guy is the best yank out the back door! Mean, aggressive and all out force on loosies.” on Eric Martin

“Bruce Murray is very underrated for a big defender. He can swat down passes with the best of them.”

“This guy has been the backbone of my defenses for years now!!” on Bruce Murray

“Unsung player of the year!!” on Chris White

“For real, this is getting to be a joke. I’m an athlete, the rest of the dudes are Canadians that are okay at lacrosse. Nads is hands down the best defender in the league. Everyone knows it. Monkey Dog is on fire.” on Shawn Nadalen

“Chris doesn’t get a lot of credit, but is a rock on defense and rarely makes mistakes. And plays a lot of minutes each night.” on Chris White

“Best athlete on D is Eric Martin or maybe Kyle Sweeney. Best box oriented defender is either Ryan Cousins or Curtis Hodgson. Lockers up there too.”

3. Who is your pick for best keeper at this point in the season?

“Bob Watson is like a fine whine…”

“Once again, he’s left out half the time and has still been as steady as they get.” on Bob Watson

“Without Watson Toronto wouldn’t be in half the games they end up winning.” on Watson

“Whipper has proved that a good keeper can make any coach look decent, even when they’re punching players in the face.” on Watson… again

“Really wanted to see Patterson win it this year, but Watson may prove too much.”

4. Who is your pick for best two-way player at this point in the season?

“If he wins the scoring title… WOW!!? on Mark Steenhuis

“Brodie is just so good at everything and his beat down on McNish secured him my vote!” on Brodie Merrill

“He does it all… just ask him!” on Geoff Snider

“Takes on the other team’s best player on D, runs the floor great, and has got some huge goals for his team this year.” on Ryan Cousins

5. Who is your pick for best rookie at this point in the season?

“They are asking so much of him and he’s proved he’s worth every penny.” on Jordan Hall

“This has been years in the making. Jordan could have been playing NLL ball years ago.”

“The kids good.” on Craig Point

“He got the better of me more than once this year. Zing…” on Point

6. Who is your pick for best head coach at this point in the season?

“With all the injuries to the Bandits, it’s hard to overlook Darris.”

“He has to be doing something right in Philly. The are dominating on a consistent basis.” on Dave Huntley

“Muels is coaching guys that are just learning the finer points of the game but they have looked as good as anyone this year. Congrats Muels.” on Adam Mueller

7. Who is your pick for best GM at this point in the season?

“Just look at how far he has turned the rush around!! Even if they don’t make the play-offs, the guy is a genius.” on Bob Hamley

“I’ll say Lindsay has done a great job of bringing the right talent and has made some nice trades down the stretch to make Philly that much deeper.” on Lindsay Sanderson

“Philadelphia is the perfect example of why you have got to have two different guys running the trades and the bench… in most cases.” on Sanderson

“Marty might not win it this year, but he’s probably the best GM over the past three or more years. He’s the nerd of NLL GM’s, he’s that smart.” on Marty O’Neill

8. Who is your pick as the most under valued guy at this point in the season?

“By a landslide!!” on Clay Hill

“They have him playing all over the floor every game and has turned into one of the league’s top draw guys…” on Nolan Heavenor

“Why won’t they play there best player from last year?” on Bryan Kazarian

“San Jose Stealth wouldn’t be the same without Shaydon… he’s the backbone of our short man.” on Shaydon Santos

“The Sandman had the C on his sweater for a reason. Great D leader that never gets talked about. Long like RBL!!!” on Santos

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