AFL greats Gary Lyon and Jordan Lewis have sparked debate over the validity of the AFLPA awards, saying it was hard to get a player voted award right when the majority of players don’t watch much footy in their spare time.
Last night’s AFLPA awards saw superstar Bulldogs and skipper Marcus Bontempelli take out MVP honours with 1176 votes while Carlton’s Sam Walsh (426) and Gold Coast’s Touk Miller (411) finished second and third.
In a surprise to many, star Power midfielder Ollie Wines, the Brownlow Medal favourite according to both TAB and Sportsbet, finished outside the top five.
While Bontempelli was deserving of the award, Wines’ omission left Lyon pondering whether today’s players keep tabs on opposing teams during their spare time.
“That (Wines’ omission) surprises me big time,” Lyon told SEN Radio.
“To think that Ollie Wines wouldn’t be in that group ahead of some of those boys … on what I’ve seen, and I would say I watch more footy than most of the players, I think that’s a bit of an oddity.
“Marcus Bontempelli is absolutely entitled (to win it) and was named the captain of the year so it’s a great double act for him and he may very well win the Brownlow, there’s no question about that. He is a fantastic and worthy winner. It’s just the questions we are asking.
“I’m just interested to wonder. We’ve had lots of different feedback, saying it’s right up there because it’s peer-driven and others are along the same lines as me that the modern day players aren’t as big a student as perhaps they once were.”
For the MVP award, players vote for three teammates to be considered before a list of 54 nominees is created across the 18 clubs.
Once the 54-player list is created, players use a 3-2-1 voting system to crown the MVP. Players also can’t vote for their own teammates.
Meanwhile, Lewis, a former Demon and four-time premiership Hawk, said players often are persuaded by media when it comes to voting, with most individuals watching a small amount of footy during their spare time.
“Players understand the award and how highly it is valued within the playing group, but it’s probably the most difficult award to vote on because you want to get away from football,” Lewis added.
“All your life is consumed by football so when you get an opportunity to get away, that’s what you want to do as a player.
“I would say a lot of the voting is what you might read in the paper or the media coverage that a certain player gets. That actually attributes to how you vote because you don’t watch a lot of football.
“It’s very hard to do. I would say five per cent of players within sides watch football. The others get away from it. That’s why it’s so hard to vote.
“It was about half an hour to go through all the categories and think about which player you’re going to vote for. If I’m honest, I didn’t put in much time at all.”
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