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SYDNEY, Australia -- New South Wales openside flanker Michael Hooper has been named the 2013 Australian Super Rugby player of the year after receiving 21 votes, four more than his nearest challengers. The 21-year-old Hooper finished ahead of ACT Brumbies veteran George Smith and Will Genia of Queensland, who won the award the previous two years. The Australian Rugby Union said in a statement Thursday that Hooper polled votes in nine rounds of the competition, with four of those matches rated as man-of-the-match efforts. Smith led until the final two rounds of the season. The award was decided in voting by 18 Australian media members on a 3-2-1 points basis for each Super Rugby match involving an Australian team. Waratahs fullback Israel Folau was named rookie of the year after switching codes for a second time following two years in Australian Rules football, preceded by a successful rugby league career. Folau polled votes in six matches, including three man-of-the-match performances, and was also New South Wales leading try scorer. He became a dual international with Wallabies selection for the series against the British and Irish Lions. Former South Africa coach Jake White was named Australian coach of the year after the Brumbies finished in first place in the Australia conference and lost in the championship final. White was overlooked for the Wallabies job when the ARU replaced New Zealander Robbie Deans with Australian Ewen McKenzie after the Lions series loss. White felt he was not given full consideration for the Wallabies job because he was South African and the ARU did not want another foreign-born coach. Nationals Jerseys China .com) - The Montreal Canadiens embark on their first road trip of the season as they head out west to battle the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. 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Read on, this is a theme.How about this, he said so casually as he walked into the post-race media conference.It isnt just the number of wins, which now makes him this most successful owner -- or trainer or jockey, in fact -- in the races 156-year history; his tenacity in chasing wins in the race has become nearly as iconic as the event itself.Williams first won the Melbourne Cup in 1981 with Just A Dash, and Almandin, one of four horses he owned in the 2016 field, gave him his second success in the past five years - and this third in 10 years given his Derby winner Efficient also won in 2007.He is a successful businessman, who virtually built the Crown Casino complex on Melbournes Southbank riverwalk -- which brought a dilapidated and abandoned part of the city to become a destination that any tourist will frequent at some stage of their visit. A working life investing in and building his construction empire, Hudson Conway, together with being influential on the Melbourne Cup itself as a committeeman of the Victoria Racing Club at a time when the race couldnt even attract a free-to-air broadcaster, he is as much a part of the fabric of the race as anyone else.Im a proud Melbournian; I love Melbourne, he was very quick to say in his presentation speech. And seemingly that is what drives his ambition to keep winning this race. Lloyd Williams, along with his son Nick, invest heavily in finding the right horses to line up each November. The investment in European-bred stayers is also extraordinary by any measure -- tens of millions of dollars.Winning this race means more than building businesses, he said at the post-race media conference.When ESPN asked if his successful business mind would consider this a sound economic investment, he reclined shyly and uttered that winning another ten might help. Imagine the scale of that?So for Lloyd Williams, it just isnt about the money; it is the challeenge for the now-76-year-old who was attending Flemington for the first time since 1996.dddddddddddd He wore the same impeccable morning suit, top hat, and life membership badge of the Victoria Racing Club.Williams was part of legendary Flemington betting ring plunges with punting pal Kerry Packer, but he doesnt bet anymore; the fun went out of it when Packer passed away.Nor does he go to the track, preferring to sit back in his lounge at the Williams training property at Mount Macedon, about an hour from Melbourne, watching the races on television with the audio muted.I do the same with the footy and cricket. It is a bit sad that I havent been here for a while, but having been here today Ive realised that Ive missed it.Williams absence from the track created a mythical aura about his character for those not young enough to remember his more regular presence.I grew up in a Catholic family, he said. There were two main things in our lives: publicans and punting. I first remember listening to the Melbourne Cup when I was five. It has been a part of my life ever since.Williams is very open in admitting that he isnt an easy man to work for, saying I drive people mad with my attention to detail.And that detail is evident given strategy plays such a big part in his methods -- like making the decision that Almandin would aim for the Melbourne Cup way back in January; but there are the less justifiable superstitions.I am superstitious about jockeys riding trackwork on my horses, he said. As such, winning rider Kerrin McEvoy had never sat on top of Almandin before the big race.You need a lot of luck to win this race. A lot of things need to go right.For all of the effort, patience, strategising and investement, Lloyd Williams isnt ready to settle for just the five Melbourne Cup wins.So Bart Cummings won 12. At 76, do you think I could catch him? ' ' '