Premiership medal for players who have contributed during the year

[piranha1]

Thinking about Ward, led me to think about our injury prone Captain Alex Pearce

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, then got me thinking about Bob Murphy.

Players who contribute during the year, who get cruelled by injury, I think deserve some recognition if their team goes on to win the premiership. Their contribution to team wins during the year has an influence on points and ladder position.
Another example from Freo would be Nat Fyfe, not played all the games this year, but if Freo won the premiership I’d love to see him be recognised. What do you all think?

 

[freo1]

Silly idea.
Get over it. Not everyone can be a winner. That’s what makes it so sought after.

How do you draw the line? If you need to have played 10 games, the person who played 9 would sook

There’s always going to be hard luck stories. That sucks, but that’s life. I sure don’t think a medal would make a player feel any better if they weren’t actually out there on the day

 

[NetworkNerd]

Works for the NBA... Andew Gaze is a NBA chanpionship winner

 

[piranha1]

Silly idea.
Get over it. Not everyone can be a winner. That’s what makes it so sought after.

How do you draw the line? If you need to have played 10 games, the person who played 9 would sook

There’s always going to be hard luck stories. That sucks, but that’s life. I sure don’t think a medal would make a player feel any better if they weren’t actually out there on the day

If a player has injury rather than just being dropped, and yes has played a significant amount of games during the year, contributing to the overall success of the team that year, then I think they should be recognised.
Bob Murphy deserved his own medal.

 

[Magpie Since 1986]

Maybe just start with Freo winning a flag before worrying about medals for players not playing in a hypothetical flag like Pearce and Fyfe

 

[Andyy]

It's all of them or it's the 22-23 only.

And I reckon it would feel quite hollow being that guy who played VFL basically all year to 'replicate the AFL team structure' while the better players were recovering from injuries etc, then to be given a medal when you've played 1-2 AFL games all year.

Really not sure the players would even want this themselves. Reeks of 'participation award' and takes away from the prestige of the medal itself.

Think of a guy like Jack Graham

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who played a handful of games in 2017 as a kid and managed to jag 3 goals. Amazing story. Even Marlion Pickett

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on debut. And yet I don't subscribe to the nonsense that Graham 'deserved' a premiership medal in 2019 because he dislocated his shoulder and couldn't play after the PF. Yeah it sucked but...that's life.

 

[LoungeLizard]

IMO, it's up to the club to decide.
The AFL hand out the medals to who played in the game, the club honours the list.
I know Collingwood have posters of the whole list in premiership years.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

It’s a ridiculous situation and a hangover from decades and decades ago when the game was far less physically taxing and clubs used very small squads.

Other sports rectified it years ago. It’s a premiership medal, not a grand final winners medal.

Even many other levels of Australian football have fixed it.

Why it remains is a mystery.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Players that play in the game get a medal.

Let the winning club recognise the rest of their squad how they feel fit.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

If anybody can give a cogent argument as to why Kevin Billing is a “premiership player” and Tony Modra isn’t, I’d love to hear it.

The reality is, you can’t.

 

[Andyy]

If anybody can give a cogent argument as to why Kevin Billing is a “premiership player” and Tony Modra isn’t, I’d love to hear it.

The reality is, you can’t.

Because he was named in a side that took to the field in a winning grand final.

Modra wasn't.

But I see your point about the injustice of it.

I just think that adds to the prestige of the 'elusive' premiership medallion.

 

[Golumless]

I'd go one step further, premiership medals should be given to everyone on the list. They've all contributed in some way to their team winning the flag. From kicking the goals, to being a warm body in training to get the club in shape to win it all.

"Takes away the prestige" is a bullshit argument. You're not giving them to the other 17 clubs.

 

[JackFlash]

Every player on the list should get a Premiership Medal, just stamp those who actually played differently.

 

[Andyy]

I'd go one step further, premiership medals should be given to everyone on the list. They've all contributed in some way to their team winning the flag. From kicking the goals, to being a warm body in training to get the club in shape to win it all.

"Takes away the prestige" is a bullshit argument. You're not giving them to the other 17 clubs.

Not against it, just think it needs to be the whole list, not the players who played a game throughout the year.

Whole list or just the 22-23.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Split the medals in half and share it.

Makes sense.

 

[Freomaniac]

I'd go one step further; premiership medals should be given to everyone on the list. They've all contributed in some way to their team winning the flag. From kicking the goals, to being a warm body in training to get the club in shape to win it all.

"Takes away the prestige" is a bullshit argument. You're not giving them to the other 17 clubs.

Tony Modra was a God at the crows. Yet was unlucky with injuries in that 1997-8 flags era

 

[pico]

Only the Norm Smith medalist should get a medal

 

[Handsuper47]

Thinking about Ward, led me to think about our injury prone Captain Alex Pearce, then got me thinking about Bob Murphy.

Players who contribute during the year, who get cruelled by injury, I think deserve some recognition if their team goes on to win the premiership. Their contribution to team wins during the year has an influence on points and ladder position.
Another example from Freo would be Nat Fyfe, not played all the games this year, but if Freo won the premiership I’d love to see him be recognised. What do you all think?

I don't know what's crazier - that you think players who didn't play on the day should get participation awards, or the fact you think Freo are a chance for the premiership.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Tony Modra was a God at the crows. Yet was unlucky with injuries in that 1997-8 flags era

Goes to show how good Adelaide were to win them without him.

 

[Guardian Hawk]

Because he was named in a side that took to the field in a winning grand final.

Modra wasn't.

But I see your point about the injustice of it.

I just think that adds to the prestige of the 'elusive' premiership medallion.

But that doesn't make it more "elusive" in my view - luckier maybe, but not more elusive.

It's harder to be a key player in a flag side for 20+ games than it is to be the 25-30th player in a squad and get the call up on the day thanks to injury.

I actually prefer the minimum games criteria. Yes, you'll still have unlucky players (who player fewer than the threshold). But not as farcical as being your side's best player all year and missing out on the day due to injury. That doesn't make it a participation award - you've still contributed way more than the bloke who plays 1-2 games all year but is lucky enough to join the team in the right week.

If the minimum was around 10 games (plus Grand Final participants), you're capturing everyone who has contributed for the majority of the season.

 

[Sttew]

Thinking about Ward, led me to think about our injury prone Captain Alex Pearce, then got me thinking about Bob Murphy.

Players who contribute during the year, who get cruelled by injury, I think deserve some recognition if their team goes on to win the premiership. Their contribution to team wins during the year has an influence on points and ladder position.
Another example from Freo would be Nat Fyfe, not played all the games this year, but if Freo won the premiership I’d love to see him be recognised. What do you all think?

What about a player who contributed substantially during the H&A but due to form slump at the end he is overlooked?

I don't think we should start dishing out medals to players not involved in GF. Too hollow

 

[RCAB]

I think it's worth mentioning (because it continually gets forgotten for some reason), that awarding premiership medals to only players who participated in the Grand Final was a marketing invention created by channel 7.

Before 1977, clubs and sponsors often minted their own premiership medals for the entire playing list (sometimes even staff). There was no consistent, league-issued medal system until the VFL partnered with Channel 7 in 1977. That’s when the league formalised the idea of awarding medals only to the players who took the field on Grand Final day.. because it looked better for TV, simple as that. The spectacle was more important than the nuance of contributions.

Prior to that, it was up to the clubs, and guess what? A lot of them did spread the medals more widely. They recognised that footy’s a squad game, and it’s not always the 22 on the day that get you there. That’s why this isn’t some radical new concept; it’s actually going back to a time when footy was more local, more club-driven, and dare I say, more loyal to the whole playing group.

People love to talk about the “elusive” premiership medal, but let’s not kid ourselves that this system is sacred or even all that old. It was a marketing decision to boost a TV product. And while I get the idea of rewarding the players on the day (the best on the big stage), the modern game has 45-man lists, rotations, and injuries that force guys who’ve given their all to sit out. Think about guys like Bob Murphy, and Prestgiacomo, massive contributors who had just as much right to call themselves premiership players as the bloke who barely touched it in the Grand Final.

As for “where do you draw the line?” Well, other sports manage it just fine. The World Cup, for example, gives medals to all squad members, and it doesn’t diminish the prestige of the tournament one bit. A compromise might be to stamp or engrave “Grand Final player” vs. “squad member” on the medals. That way, you preserve the distinction without forgetting the contributions that got you there.

At the end of the day, no system is perfect. But let’s at least acknowledge that the current AFL approach is a TV-era holdover and not some deep cultural 150 year tradition that can’t be questioned.

 

[Hamingja]

As for “where do you draw the line?” Well, other sports manage it just fine. The World Cup, for example, gives medals to all squad members, and it doesn’t diminish the prestige of the tournament one bit. A compromise might be to stamp or engrave “Grand Final player” vs. “squad member” on the medals. That way, you preserve the distinction without forgetting the contributions that got you there.

I know at Celtic they make extras up for squad players, support staff etc. So Ange signed a number of Japanese players when he was manager and they had a translator to relay the instructions. The club made up a winners medal for the translator. So the joke is that the Rangers captain who has played with them for 10 years has less winners medals than the Celtic translator

 

[Underarm]

I think clubs should do a better job promoting the jobs of the players who played throughout the season but weren't needed on Grand final day. There's about a dozen players who could have taken Pickett's spot in 2019 and probably deserved a medal more. Sydney stack

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Sydney Stack

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(17 games), Jack Graham

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(16 games), Kamdyn Mcintosh

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(17), Higgins (13), Balta (13), Chol (9), Ross (7) and half a dozen more who made a bigger impact to our season.

Maribol Chol especially - played 9 in 2019, and 11 in 2020, Playing as our Ruckman and 2nd key forward in key wins. But because we got lucky and had Nank and Soldo, or Jack and Lynch fit for finals he doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

 

[HTPunter]

If anybody can give a cogent argument as to why Kevin Billing is a “premiership player” and Tony Modra isn’t, I’d love to hear it.

The reality is, you can’t.

Because one is a premiership. I.e played in a winning grand final, player.

And the other didn’t.

It’s not a “best players” award. It’s who played in the winning grand final.

If you’re going down your argument, why should Zane Zakostelsky be a premiership player ?

I would love a coherent argument as to why the AFL must “honour” players, instead of clubs honouring the contributions of their entire playing list as they see fit. There is no need for the AFL to do so.