Last week I decided I would offer a couple of suggestions as to who might qualify to be either Man or Woman of the year. I wanted to get in before the New Year’s Honours list was released tomorrow morning – New Year’s Eve—so I wouldn’t be in danger of undermining the choices that have been made of those New Zealanders to receive New Years Honours.

On Friday, I announced my choice for Woman of the Year. Now it’s the man’s turn.

And to be honest I will be surprised and perhaps not a little disappointed if his name isn’t already on the list to be announced tomorrow.

But for me, that person is Grant Dalton, who earlier this year in Barcelona led Emirates Team New Zealand to successfully defend, for an unprecedented third time in a row in the modern era, the America’s Cup.

Some say Grant Dalton is perhaps a polarising character because he did the deal to successfully defend the Cup which involved taking the cup competition offshore. I wrote my thoughts about that in a piece in the New Zealand Herald a couple of years ago so I’m not about to repeat myself on that score.

But back, then I described Dalton as a tenacious, determined man who knows how to get things done. And so it proved. In a challenging post Covid era he managed to raise the money to build a magnificent boat and to retain, maintain and develop a competitive team to successfully defend the America’s Cup in an environment where Team NZ was always competing against the bottomless pockets of other teams.

And, in what I would describe as typical Kiwi fashion, Grant Dalton seems to be the last one who wants any credit, attention, or plaudits, preferring instead to highlight that the achievement belongs to his team. Just a few days ago for our Newstalk ZB summer feature he was at pains to point out the brilliant efforts of the sailors themselves as well as the design team and other individuals within Team New Zealand.

And you don’t succeed in the way Emirates Team NZ has without an incredibly strong team culture and ethos —something sailing commentator Mark Orams described as being hard to emulate. But surely that’s the sort of thing that can only evolve through strong leadership.

The other thing I like about Grant Dalton is that he hasn't watered down his public persona to appease his critics and media in ways we might see with other sportspeople or managers where frankly, with some, you wouldn’t have a clue what makes some of them tick. Grant Dalton just does Grant Dalton.

One day the future of the Americas cup will be decided without him. But it's hard not to imagine that we might not have been quite as successful if it hadn't been for his leadership at Team NZ regardless of where the baton gets passed next.

In fact, I’m going to say it: it would be a travesty if he’s not knighted in this year’s New Year’s Honours list. But Grant will be the last to complain. As I wrote last time about him. He will be concentrating on getting the next job done.