Rugby League: Jamie Peacock deserves an award for World Club Challenge performance

Jamie Peacock puts in a tackle against Manly

Jamie Peacock goes to the Palace this week to pick up his MBE. The timing could hardly be better, because the effort he and his team-mates put in on Friday night is the sort of thing they should dish out gongs for.

Leeds were terrific against Manly; enterprising whenever they had the ball, fiercely determined when they hadn’t. If Peacock deserved a medal, then so did Ryan Hall, Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow.

The most impressive aspect for me though was the performance of Leeds’ young three-quarters. Zak Hardaker, Kallum Watkins and Ben Jones-Bishop had a little over 100 Super League games. Set alongside the likes of Jamie Lyon and Steve Matai, it looked suspiciously like boys against men.

Yet they coped magnificently. Get them all to Buck House, I say.

And while we’re at it, I’d be striking a special medal for Eorl Crabtree. Okay, he’s been one of my favourites for a long time; a player of character and personality (and impossible to confuse with anyone else, even at a distance).

Against Warrington he did something prop forwards don’t do anymore. He played the full 80 minutes – or as near as dammit. When Nathan Brown took him off after 79mins 10secs he looked absolutely mortified.

Coaches are having to get more out of their front-rowers under the new replacement rules, but this was way beyond the call of duty. A suitable reward? Surely an earldom; the Earl of Crabtree has a good ring to it.

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