There's something to be said about great defenders playing in a non-Vic team that has a good team defense as a whole becoming obfuscated compared to a player who is virtually the sole man in defense for another Vic team. Its a bit like how easy it was to point to Nathan Jones as a good midfielder when he was really the only midfielder doing a damn thing in the Melbourne team during the Neeld circus.
The media tends to be a bit simple in that regard when it comes to who is the best at any given time. Hence why so often players become underrated (or even missed entirely) for the actual work they do, just because they happen to have competent/fit teammates to work with.
It makes it fairly pointless worrying about who the media thinks is the best, as we all have players to compare to in our own teams who we think at least stack up to the media's opinion, yet don't get a look in because they're not the fashionable or easily identifiable option.
FTFY