Rising Star

[High Ryder]

Deserved it.

 

[Dick johnson]

Congratulations Zaka if true.

I called his talent first. Let that be known.

im pretty sure i said something about his talent 18 or so years ago

 

[Darealrath]

Well deserved - looks like a real natural footballer.

 

[Enki]

I find it interesting that the Brownlow carries so much prestige . I understand the history , but given that it's the Umpires' votes , and most of them don't seem to know what day it is , then I don't see how it's a fair reflection of who the best player was .

If I was a player , i'd much rather win the Leigh Matthews , and be acknowledged by my peers .

Very astute observation for a foreign fan, but perhaps your distance from the game (figuratively, as you are a new fan) is also why you don't ascribe to it the traditional prestige that most do when they grow up watching aussie rules in Australia as children. For the record I agree, while I will still enjoy any Essendon player winning it, I put more value on the Leigh Matthews Trophy, while it is not 100% perfect I believe it is a better system and has a good record.

Of course being based on player votes one could argue that players may miss things that umpires see, but putting the winners of each next to each other I'd take the Matthews Trophy 99 times out of 100 (not that the MVP has been running that long). So evidence shows us that the players don't miss much and umpires sometimes give too much credit to some players.

That's just my opinion, neither is perfect and I loved it when Hird won a Charlie, but I can't deny the Leigh Matthews Trophy to me seems more accurate. Not to mention it isn't a Midfielders award like the Brownlow is.

 

[Enki]

It occurs to me now that while posting in this thread I should say well done Zaharakis. Daytripper is pretty reliable so I have no reason to doubt this. It is nice for one of our AFL debutantes to get it that week. Good for his confidence no doubt.

 

[nickcat0]

It occurs to me now that while posting in this thread I should say well done Zaharakis. Daytripper is pretty reliable so I have no reason to doubt this. It is nice for one of our AFL debutantes to get it that week. Good for his confidence no doubt.

Absolutely . I wasn't trying to diminish young Zaharakis' achievement . Well done to the lad , and I hope he or Hurley win the end of season award .