- Mar 2, 2015
- 19,077
- 34,331
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
I'm always mystified why fans of the top 3 Rising Star candidates get into shitfights about this overrated award. I was genuinely embarrassed for the Hawthorn nuffies who suffered a meltdown when Andy McGrath pipped Ryan Burton
for the award back in 2017. Maybe some of them had bets on the result and felt cheated. Understandable. But for the non-punters, of all the stupid things in footy to lose your mind over, the Rising Star would have to be one of the most meaningless.
Of all the individual awards, the Rising Star is the biggest popularity contest of them all. The judges don't watch these kids ultra-closely every week. They don't factor in their mistakes and poor games, or their defensive efforts. It's all based on stats, "star quality" hype and based on the "feels". I like the weekly recognition which is given to the up & coming young stars of the game. I just don't give a rat's arse about the final voting process to determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc..
Who cares who wins it? As we've seen many times in previous years, the place-getters often have much better careers than the winners. And the true champions of the game are often ineligible... They'll have a quietish debut season, but play more than 10 games and won't be eligible for the award when they have a breakout season in their 2nd year.
PLAYERCARDSTART
3
Ryan Burton
- Age
- 27
- Ht
- 191cm
- Wt
- 92kg
- Pos.
- Def
Career
Season
Last 5
- D
- 18.5
- 5star
- K
- 12.1
- 4star
- HB
- 6.3
- 4star
- M
- 4.6
- 4star
- T
- 2.1
- 4star
- MG
- 277.3
- 4star
- D
- 16.8
- 4star
- K
- 12.3
- 5star
- HB
- 4.5
- 3star
- M
- 5.0
- 5star
- T
- 1.0
- 2star
- MG
- 277.3
- 4star
- D
- 13.4
- 4star
- K
- 9.0
- 4star
- HB
- 4.4
- 4star
- M
- 4.8
- 5star
- T
- 2.2
- 4star
PLAYERCARDEND
Of all the individual awards, the Rising Star is the biggest popularity contest of them all. The judges don't watch these kids ultra-closely every week. They don't factor in their mistakes and poor games, or their defensive efforts. It's all based on stats, "star quality" hype and based on the "feels". I like the weekly recognition which is given to the up & coming young stars of the game. I just don't give a rat's arse about the final voting process to determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc..
Who cares who wins it? As we've seen many times in previous years, the place-getters often have much better careers than the winners. And the true champions of the game are often ineligible... They'll have a quietish debut season, but play more than 10 games and won't be eligible for the award when they have a breakout season in their 2nd year.
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