Saracens full-back Alex Goode was today named Gallagher Premiership Rugby Player of the Month for October 2018.
Goode has been in stellar form for Saracens this season as his club remained joint top of Gallagher Premiership Rugby in October. By the end of round 6, Goode had beaten 28 defenders, gained 438 metres in 74 carries and was the club’s leading off-loader as Saracens made an unbeaten start to the season.
And his Director of Rugby, Mark McCall said: “Alex is a key player in our squad and is in the form of his life. As a club we are thrilled that his outstanding performances have been recognised in this way.”
Goode was presented with his award by Matt Stevens, Principal of the newly-opened Saracens High School and a Gallagher Community Hero for Saracens (above).
At the start of its first season as the new title partner of Premiership Rugby, Gallagher asked each Premiership club to nominate two people who they feel best demonstrates the values and community commitment within their rugby family. The search resulted in 24 Gallagher Community Heroes, such as Matt Stevens, who embody the values and spirit of rugby.
Throughout the season, Gallagher will embark on a series of CSR initiatives as part of its ongoing commitment to rugby, working with Premiership Rugby to shine a light on the positive work that is being done around the game, both at scale and within the local communities.
Alex Goode named Player of the Month
And the first of these is to award Goode – as part of his prize for being named Gallagher Premiership Rugby Player of the Month – with 25 tickets to a Saracens match to be gifted to a local club, school or community group of his choice.
Michael Rea, Chief Executive of Gallagher’s retail broking business in the UK, said: “As the new title partner of Premiership Rugby we wanted to bring something different to the Player of the Month award that also reflected our role as a community broker. So we decided to give each Player of the Month 25 tickets to a Premiership game that they can then gift to a grassroots club, school or youth group of their choice. It’s a great way to bring together this monthly celebration of top-class performance on the pitch with the opportunity for those players to give something back to their local communities off the pitch.”
Goode was judged by a panel of experts as the player who made the biggest impact in Gallagher Premiership Rugby over the month October.
He was involved in a four-way battle to win the Award eventually beating Worcester Warriors’ outside-half Ryan Mills, Newcastle Falcons’ Mark Wilson and George Ford from Leicester Tigers.
Goode was voted for by a panel of media professionals based on his performances in September, alongside a public poll which drew more than 2,000 votes on the Premiership Rugby app. The judges were: Nick Mullins (BT Sport), Alastair Eykyn (BT Sport), Mick Cleary (The Daily Telegraph), Sarah Mockford (Rugby World), Jonny Fordham (The Sun), Robert Kitson (The Guardian), Chris Jones (BBC 5 Live), David Rogers (Getty Images) and Tom Hamilton (ESPN). The panel was chaired by Paul Morgan, Premiership Rugby’s Communications Director.
Main image credit: Pinnacle Photo Agency for Gallagher
