Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest | England)

coochiee

andrewvoerman

Ninja

andrewvoerman

Ninja

Once he breaks 100 he should win it, if not it confirms the award is completely meaningless. 

100 premier league goals may never be repeated by a New Zealander again. At least it's unlikely in all our lifetimes. 

Who's closest - Nelsen/Reid with around 10 each?

If only there was a Halberg Award for 'Best Sportsman from August 2014 to December 2025'

Not sure if you're being tongue and cheek.

But seriously, how can a New Zealand footballer score nearly 100 goals in the most competitive league in the world (something that only 30-odd players have ever achieved), in the world's most played sport, spaced out over a decade, and still not win the national sport's award for a small nation like New Zealand.

Truly bizarre. 

Because the award is for sportsman of the year, not sportsman of the last 11 years, and New Zealand has a whole host of star sportsmen from year to year?

He was maybe slightly hard done by not to be a finalist in 2019 ( when he scored 12 EPL goals – they've since stopped sticking rigidly to four finalists, it seems), but otherwise his record at the Halberg Awards is par for the course – a finalist in 2024, the one year (so far) where he has been truly elite (with 18 EPL goals), but at the same time, not quite on the level of an Olympic high jump gold medalist.

If he continues to bang them in through the end of the year and Hamish Kerr doesn't win gold at the athletics world championships, he should be right up there again, with Ryan Fox, on the back of his two PGA wins, the clubhouse leader, so to speak.

Look I have little idea of the Halbergs criteria, but really Ryan Fox. It's not like he's won a major. And again as others have opined football is truly the world game.  

Golf lets be honest is basically a Caucasian & Asian elitist sport, with yes huge dollar earnings for the very top echelon. But the % of world's popn who would know who Ryan Fox is, outside of NZ is tiny. I have a regular golfer friend here in Aussie, who's barely heard of Fox.

Again, sportsman of the year, not, sportsman with best global name recognition

Would throw Liam Lawson into the mixer too.

Maybe if he stayed at Red Bull this year alongside Verstappen but should definitely be amongst the top. Who knows the next time we’ll see a Kiwi F1 Driver!

Kerr, Wood, Fox, Lawson and Adams are probably our biggest athletes right now.

If Woodsy was at a bigger club doing what he has been like Spurs/AC Milan/ Dortmund type of stature then I feel like it’d be more recognised.

Kerr has 4 years to prepare to go for a gold medal whereas Woodsy has the pressure of doing it week in week out. 

andrewvoerman

Ninja

andrewvoerman

Ninja

Once he breaks 100 he should win it, if not it confirms the award is completely meaningless. 

100 premier league goals may never be repeated by a New Zealander again. At least it's unlikely in all our lifetimes. 

Who's closest - Nelsen/Reid with around 10 each?

If only there was a Halberg Award for 'Best Sportsman from August 2014 to December 2025'

Not sure if you're being tongue and cheek.

But seriously, how can a New Zealand footballer score nearly 100 goals in the most competitive league in the world (something that only 30-odd players have ever achieved), in the world's most played sport, spaced out over a decade, and still not win the national sport's award for a small nation like New Zealand.

Truly bizarre. 

Because the award is for sportsman of the year, not sportsman of the last 11 years, and New Zealand has a whole host of star sportsmen from year to year?

He was maybe slightly hard done by not to be a finalist in 2019 ( when he scored 12 EPL goals – they've since stopped sticking rigidly to four finalists, it seems), but otherwise his record at the Halberg Awards is par for the course – a finalist in 2024, the one year (so far) where he has been truly elite (with 18 EPL goals), but at the same time, not quite on the level of an Olympic high jump gold medalist.

If he continues to bang them in through the end of the year and Hamish Kerr doesn't win gold at the athletics world championships, he should be right up there again, with Ryan Fox, on the back of his two PGA wins, the clubhouse leader, so to speak.

martinb

That’s hilarious KM! 

Funniest thing was the video link wouldn't work... so the "presentation" ended up being the host talking to Ryan on his phone while he was driving to training... a whole room, full of formally dressed award dinner attendees, straining to hear his words over engine noise etc... gold...

How about this as further proof that Wood deserves more recognition!  From Nz football


“✨ Mo Salah. Declan Rice. Chris Wood 🇳🇿

Huge congratulations to Chris Wood who's been named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year 2025 🏆👏

Voted by fellow Premier League players, this award recognises the very best performers over the course of the season 🏅

Wood joins an elite list of names and becomes the first-ever Kiwi to earn a spot in the Premier League TOTY 🔥

What an achievement for our Woodsy! 💪

Getting Wood 20/20 glasses firmly on.

Back to back 20 goal seasons please big fella. We learned that Ndoye doesn’t pass as well as Elanga yet, but if you’ve got Anderson and Gibbs-White finding you it might well be on!

If he gets another 20 goal season then there is no longer a debate about our best ever footballer.

Buffon II

If he gets another 20 goal season then there is no longer a debate about our best ever footballer.

And 6 seasons in the PL in double figures makes it a fairly one sided debate even now. Nelsen and Rufer the only others? Reid in the convo too?

martinb

Buffon II

If he gets another 20 goal season then there is no longer a debate about our best ever footballer.

And 6 seasons in the PL in double figures makes it a fairly one sided debate even now. Nelsen and Rufer the only others? Reid in the convo too?

Those three would be the only others I would consider close to Wood.

Tbh my opinion is the debate is already over but seems some on here can’t let go of Rufer scoring a few European Cup goals 30 years ago.

Buffon II

martinb

Buffon II

If he gets another 20 goal season then there is no longer a debate about our best ever footballer.

And 6 seasons in the PL in double figures makes it a fairly one sided debate even now. Nelsen and Rufer the only others? Reid in the convo too?

Those three would be the only others I would consider close to Wood.

Tbh my opinion is the debate is already over but seems some on here can’t let go of Rufer scoring a few European Cup goals 30 years ago.

I saw wynton this arvo so was well prepared for this debate. Outside of nation tournaments like world cup, euro champs, south american champs - the cup winners cup he won would arguable rate in the top half dozen international club competitions. Euro cup, copa libertadores, uefa cup, cup winners cup, maybe a domestic league or 2.

Also, what he achieved, sort of like a canadian winning a super rubgy championship or a lithuanian off spinner the Indian Cricket League.

His team won the Cup Winners' Cup.

Do you also consider Nicky Butt to be a better midfielder than Steven Gerrard?

dick le roc returns

Buffon II

martinb

Buffon II

If he gets another 20 goal season then there is no longer a debate about our best ever footballer.

And 6 seasons in the PL in double figures makes it a fairly one sided debate even now. Nelsen and Rufer the only others? Reid in the convo too?

Those three would be the only others I would consider close to Wood.

Tbh my opinion is the debate is already over but seems some on here can’t let go of Rufer scoring a few European Cup goals 30 years ago.

I saw wynton this arvo so was well prepared for this debate. Outside of nation tournaments like world cup, euro champs, south american champs - the cup winners cup he won would arguable rate in the top half dozen international club competitions. Euro cup, copa libertadores, uefa cup, cup winners cup, maybe a domestic league or 2.

Also, what he achieved, sort of like a canadian winning a super rubgy championship or a lithuanian off spinner the Indian Cricket League.

Mustn't be forgotten that the Cup Winners' Cup was only behind the European Cup (Champions League) in importance of Uefa club tournaments at that time. The Uefa Cup (Europa League) was 3rd in importance until they got rid of the Cup Winners' Cup. 

The Uefa Super Cup was contested between the European Cup and Cup Winners' Cup until they got rid of the competition and promoted the Uefa Cup into its spot.

Edit: I'm not actually weighing in on the debate as to who is better - I just find the Cup Winners' Cup is often glossed over in terms of its importance at the time due to it no longer being around, so I like to stick up for it a bit!

Buffon II

His team won the Cup Winners' Cup.

Do you also consider Nicky Butt to be a better midfielder than Steven Gerrard?

Buffon by name and post. And wyn won as a part of that team. Butt was no where near as good a diver as gerrard

I’d rather have a night out with Nicky Butt in 90s Manchester…but probably it’d be too much for me! Struggle with my second pint now as it is. 

Supporting Wood or Rufer here is a noble fandom, no need to play the man. 

I hope I’m having this debate with Surman and others, perhaps even LBS if he can get his shooting right in twenty years time…also cos it’d mean I hadn’t keeled over…

When Chris does the elegant stuff he doesn’t look as good as Rufer! But I was happy to hear the number of doubters even now in the preseason predictions. Hope he can prove them wrong. 

Certainly if he’d got Forest in the Champions league and pinched 25 it’d be a done topic. 

Anyway didn’t mean to open cans of worms- Wood 20/20! Let’s go! 

It's always so very subjective comparing players from different eras, but Wynton's achievements at Bremen are pretty amazing by Kiwi football standards even today.

1990-91 won the German Cup 
1991-92 scoring the second goal as Bremen beat AS Monaco 2-0 in the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup
1992-93 scored 17 goals as Bremen won the Bundesliga 
1993-94 netted eight times in 10 European League matches – to be joint leading scorer in the comp with Ronald Koeman (8 goals in 12 games)

I think Rufer perhaps never quite gets the recognition he deserves, because his Christianity makes him a little odd, and of course back then there was virtually no media coverage/footage at all.

It's a tossup between Alex's uncle and the Woodsman. Great EPL careers for Nellie & Winnie, but they are defenders, not so exciting.

Buffon II

His team won the Cup Winners' Cup.

Do you also consider Nicky Butt to be a better midfielder than Steven Gerrard?

Gerrard won the Champions League TBF.

Rufer made 229 appearances for  Nationalliga sides with 105 goals and 241 appearances for Werder Bremen with 104 goals, including 20 goals in 33 appearances in European competition. 

Wood's made 238 appearances for Championship sides with 90 goals and 293 appearances for Premier Leage sides with 97 goals (this includes Cups).

Wood also has 44 goals in 84 AWs games compared to Rufer's 12 in 23. 

So their raw numbers are pretty comparable.  I think you can reasonably prefer Wood's achievements in the incredibly tough modern Premier League or Rufer's in 90s European football or vice versa, same with Wood consistently turning out for NZ vs Rufer scoring crucial World Cup qualification goals in tough games aged 18/19.

For me the key difference is Rufer was technically incredible and as a result was turning out for a Bremen team competing in the top half of the Bundesliga and European football for 6 years. 

Wood's had amazing longevity and success in the Championship and Premier League but never to the level that he's been likely to become a starter for a team playing regular European football.  His appearances in the Europa League have come as a result of Birmingham, Burnley and now Forest achieving unexpected success. 

TL;DR: It's debatable either way but I think Rufer's our best ever. 

“… never to the level that he's been likely to become a starter for a team playing regular European football.”

Not sure I agree with this - it’s a bit  rough for someone who just scored 20 goals and made the PL team of the year. There’s an argument that he’d have been a regular starter last year for Arsenal, Tottenham and Man U at least. 

He would have had to have been signed for one of those teams to be a regular starter for them.  As much as I'd love it to happen none of them have ever been likely to sign a 30+ year old Chris Wood from Burnley/Newcastle/Forest, and if they did it would probably be as an emergency back-up ala Nelsen's move to Spurs. 

It’s obviously going to come down to the wire and how Wood goes with AFC, verses Rufer and the Kingz.

I hope its Wood with the Nix though

I think I lean towards Wood more due to recency bias, but I wouldn't debate long and hard if someone said Rufer. 1 and 2 aren't up for debate.

The biggest what if would be if Ryan Thomas didn't do his ACL moments after signing for PSV, a decent season for them and the whole of Europe starts noticing.

observerfromuh

I think I lean towards Wood more due to recency bias, but I wouldn't debate long and hard if someone said Rufer. 1 and 2 aren't up for debate.

The biggest what if would be if Ryan Thomas didn't do his ACL moments after signing for PSV, a decent season for them and the whole of Europe starts noticing.

 Rufer was a hero of mine as a lad, so for that alone will stand out for me. Plus back in his day breaking into top football in Europe that much harder for kiwis I reckon. If I was a lad now Wood would be my hero and probably stand out. As for Gerrard, as well as Euro Cups, didn't he also win an olympic gold medal for Great Britain in the diving?

I wasn't alive for Wynton's prime and I've only ever seen highlights, but growing up he was obviously considered the Kiwi GOAT, with Nelsen a distant 2nd. The problem with comparing them is really the wider problem of comparing football from the 80s and 90s to football today. They're never really going to be comparable.

What Wood has going for him is the level that he's playing at. The Premier league has been the best league in the world since probably around the time Man City started getting ridiculous, so more or less the entirety of Wood's prem career. The Bundesliga in Rufer's time was still obviously strong, but if he had been plying his trade in Serie A at the time we would probably hold his achievements in a higher regard.

Personally I'd say if Wood has another good season and breaks into the hundred club, forest go deep in Europe and he bags a goal or two at the World cup next year... It's a wrap.

Have to also remember. Wood has 49 premier league goals for Burnley, of all clubs. A club, by all standards, is a relegation-fighting Premier League team at very best. 

To have that kind of record against the best players and teams in the world, with Burnley, is remarkable really.

Look- we really need to open a new thread and analyse this properly- goal by goal! Comparative strengths of the opposition. Continental league v Championship. Materials of the ball.  Comparative difficulties of each goal. 
Character of the player during each phase of career. Effect on New Zealand football. Comfort of kits. 

I’m only slightly joking. That would be a brilliant podcast series to follow. Twice a week. Goal v goal. Wood v Rufer. NZ football the winner surely…

I can remember watching young Wynton making a huge impact in the 82 World Cup qualifiers, then years of reading the spasmodic article about him... then watching him as player-coach for the Kingz, 1999, 2000, 2001, subbing himself on when the team needed a late boost and just looking so classy. Exquisite touches, great goals... Oceania player of the century.
I love watching Woodsy as well. He is amazing. 

Jazzy Jeff

I wasn't alive for Wynton's prime and I've only ever seen highlights, but growing up he was obviously considered the Kiwi GOAT, with Nelsen a distant 2nd. The problem with comparing them is really the wider problem of comparing football from the 80s and 90s to football today. They're never really going to be comparable.

What Wood has going for him is the level that he's playing at. The Premier league has been the best league in the world since probably around the time Man City started getting ridiculous, so more or less the entirety of Wood's prem career. The Bundesliga in Rufer's time was still obviously strong, but if he had been plying his trade in Serie A at the time we would probably hold his achievements in a higher regard.

Personally I'd say if Wood has another good season and breaks into the hundred club, forest go deep in Europe and he bags a goal or two at the World cup next year... It's a wrap.

What about say... 99 Premier League goals, Europa League quarter-final, and two World Cup assists? 

Oska

Jazzy Jeff

I wasn't alive for Wynton's prime and I've only ever seen highlights, but growing up he was obviously considered the Kiwi GOAT, with Nelsen a distant 2nd. The problem with comparing them is really the wider problem of comparing football from the 80s and 90s to football today. They're never really going to be comparable.

What Wood has going for him is the level that he's playing at. The Premier league has been the best league in the world since probably around the time Man City started getting ridiculous, so more or less the entirety of Wood's prem career. The Bundesliga in Rufer's time was still obviously strong, but if he had been plying his trade in Serie A at the time we would probably hold his achievements in a higher regard.

Personally I'd say if Wood has another good season and breaks into the hundred club, forest go deep in Europe and he bags a goal or two at the World cup next year... It's a wrap.

What about say... 99 Premier League goals, Europa League quarter-final, and two World Cup assists? 

 but neither wood nor rufer can hold a candle to Steven Gerrard for diving ability

You're getting extremely weird about Gerrard now.

Oska

Jazzy Jeff

I wasn't alive for Wynton's prime and I've only ever seen highlights, but growing up he was obviously considered the Kiwi GOAT, with Nelsen a distant 2nd. The problem with comparing them is really the wider problem of comparing football from the 80s and 90s to football today. They're never really going to be comparable.

What Wood has going for him is the level that he's playing at. The Premier league has been the best league in the world since probably around the time Man City started getting ridiculous, so more or less the entirety of Wood's prem career. The Bundesliga in Rufer's time was still obviously strong, but if he had been plying his trade in Serie A at the time we would probably hold his achievements in a higher regard.

Personally I'd say if Wood has another good season and breaks into the hundred club, forest go deep in Europe and he bags a goal or two at the World cup next year... It's a wrap.

What about say... 99 Premier League goals, Europa League quarter-final, and two World Cup assists? 

You've got yourself a deal. Even still, reading my own post back and the rest of the replies I don't even think he needs all of those. I think he's probably got the top spot already, really.

Buffon II

You're getting extremely weird about Gerrard now.

Nah, deciding Nicky Butt of all people was the one to compare him to was the extremely weird bit.

Nelfoos

Buffon II

You're getting extremely weird about Gerrard now.

Nah, deciding Nicky Butt of all people was the one to compare him to was the extremely weird bit.

I think I’ve confused him with Lee Sharpe. Wild west goal celebration, didn’t last at United cos he was a party boy and it annoyed Ferguson?

Nicky Butt was goodish, but kinda faded away?

Aaanyway, 2 more goals and we overtake Viduka as most PL goals scored by a NZ/AU player in history.

Huge milestone. Something to look forward to.

Fat cod Greek owner wants to sack the manager that turned Forest around and get a fat cod Greek manager in to keep him company.

Modern football is wank.

yeah that was a telling interview.... every workplace has politics - every start up/business has an owner that's "better" than their CEO..until they get out of the way and either trust them or move on.. 

Was there mention somewhere of a Greek manager?

Buffon II

Fat cod Greek owner wants to sack the manager that turned Forest around and get a fat cod Greek manager in to keep him company.

Modern football is wank.

Probably wants to bring Ange in. Gave him an award when he won the Europa League with Spurs.

Edit: ahh. New director of football involved. Add to that the weirdness with Gibbs-White and things are back looking a bit odd in paradise.

Yeah, could see things turning a bit weird for forest. Honestly at this point I'd kinda love it if Wood notches his hundred this season and then buggers off to Serie A or something. 

There were rumours flying around about AC Milan and Napoli being interested last year - obviously nothing was concrete, but it would be sick to see him churn out 3 or 4 more productive years in Italy or Germany.

Jazzy Jeff

Yeah, could see things turning a bit weird for forest. Honestly at this point I'd kinda love it if Wood notches his hundred this season and then buggers off to Serie A or something. 

There were rumours flying around about AC Milan and Napoli being interested last year - obviously nothing was concrete, but it would be sick to see him churn out 3 or 4 more productive years in Italy or Germany.

Have him join Werder Bremen and settle the debate once and for all.

Forest travel to FA Cup holders Palace. 
Could be a bit of niggle in this one, Forest having taken Palace's place in the Europa League.