Opinion Should players who miss out on a flag deserve a premiership medal?

[NaturalDisaster]

No from me,

Maybe if theres a limit on how many games players must play during the season or they must have played at least one other finals game.

But players who don’t get a game and are just going to be delisted deserve nothing.

Does McRae think the players are 5 years old? First he went on about the brownlow being changed because the players go to bed late, now this.

 

[ChristianBoy]

Not one player at any level of sport would want a medal for a game they didnt play in.

 

[freddy mercury]

Lol no, they aren't 12, missed out? Too bad, no medal, how it's always been and should be.

 

[freddy mercury]

Not one player at any level of sport would want a medal for a game they didnt play in.

Robert Murphy seemed to have no issues hijacking the celebrations back when the dogs won it.

 

[Pancakes]

No.

Premiership players are those who played on the day.
I get that some players (Adams, McGlynn, Gaff and others) played a lot of footy to miss the big dance with injury, or for hitting someone with a glass jaw but they didn't play in the premiership game. Medals only for the players who suited up for their team on GF day and got the job done.

 

[yamborghinidream]

No.

Premiership players are those who played on the day.
I get that some players (Adams, McGlynn, Gaff and others) played a lot of footy to miss the big dance with injury, or for hitting someone with a glass jaw but they didn't play in the premiership game. Medals only for the players who suited up for their team on GF day and got the job done.

Strange thread to snipe at a then-18 year old. You're a weird guy.

 

[I Remember Bluey]

While we're at it, lets give the members who couldn't get a ticket a medal as well.

Bugger it, a medal for all members of the winning team I say

 

[ferrisb]

There is nothing more hollow than the line "Mate - you helped get us there, you are part of it" when you know you aren't.

Does a guy who plays 22 H&A matches but misses finals contribute less to the premiership than a guy who misses all the H&A but plays a couple of finals (including GF)?

I don't know the answer to that, but maybe?

If yes, then obviously you need to draw an esoteric line somewhere. 20 H&A > 2 finals? 15? 10?

 

[PieLebo87]

I feel there is no real rationale to this argument. It is purely emotive.

It ain’t broke.

A premiership medal is given to a player who played in a premiership, not to all players who played in the eventual premier’s team at some stage.

Where do we draw the line? Hypothetically, it’s 15 games. What happens when a star who played 14 games has a season ending injury? What if they single-handedly won the club 3-4 games that year?

Similar logic to what Fly spoke about yesterday on 360 - he hasn’t worn his Jock McHale medal because he feels it was a combined effort with all his coaches. I respect that, but why don’t the entire coaching group also get a medal? It wasn’t just the senior coach who got his side to a flag winning position.

I vote no. Leave it as it is.

 

[PieLebo87]

It’s an interesting one and I can see both sides. But local leagues give our x amount of spare medals for the club to give out as it sees fit often to injured players, trainers, etc.

I’ve got premiership medals from playing in the GF and not playing. The one I didn’t play I was a key member of the side that got us there, work commitments had me missing the semi final and the final training session so they left me out of the GF team.

On the day I had mixed emotions and felt a bit left out. But I felt more connected to the club and recognised when given one of the extra medals at our clubs presentation night. It felt good to have something to remember and recognise your contribution to a premiership side despite missing out on the day.

I respect everything you’ve said here. Hypothetically you’re an AFL player and it is spoken about in 15-20 years time. Will you genuinely feel you were a premiership player or will that be reserved for the 22 that took the field that day?

It’s heart breaking, and there’s plenty of heart break stories, but it’s an unfortunate part of reality.

Despite Bevo giving Murphy the 2016 physical medal, Murphy isn’t a premiership player, unfortunately.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

I respect everything you’ve said here. Hypothetically you’re an AFL player and it is spoken about in 15-20 years time. Will you genuinely feel you were a premiership player or will that be reserved for the 22 that took the field that day?

It’s heart breaking, and there’s plenty of heart break stories, but it’s an unfortunate part of reality.

Despite Bevo giving Murphy the 2016 physical medal, Murphy isn’t a premiership player, unfortunately.

It's why playing in a premiership is so special - it is hard todo and a lot of things have to go right over a number of years.


If it was me who missed out on playing I wouldn't want a medal.

 

[Foxx]

Of course they should.
But there would have to be parameters.

 

[GWT6]

No, should only be for those that played and Bob Murphy.

 

[Underarm]

If a player plays either:

-15 Games across the season
Or
- the Grand Final

They get a premiership medal. End of.

Premiership player Andrew Gaff doesn't sit right.

 

[Stumpy Pete]

I think it is far more likely that a player will miss a GF than previously. Players get suspended for things they used to “get away with” and concussion protocols also lead to greater likelihood of players missing out - so on this basis I lean more to “yes” than I used to.

I’d prefer to maximise the opportunities for injured/concussed players by having the bye moved from pre-finals to post-prelim. This may have lead to Adams, McStay and Payne all playing on Saturday.

Regards

S. Pete

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

The premiership cup represents the efforts of those at the club. Playing in the game and achieving victory is the individual reward for those who play/coach. No medal will compensate missing out on playing the game.

 

[Shane Heard]

You can acknowledge everyone within the club in your own way, nothing wrong with that.
The players who don’t play will always feel they missed out but a medal is a fair gesture.

What I hate is the holier than thou approach by McRae all the time.
Wear ya medal mate, you’re doing Jock a disservice by disregarding it. We already know it’s a whole club approach, we don’t need you acting all high and mighty to prove a point. It doesn’t take away from the other coaches.

How would you feel having a medal named after you and the winners are just too embarrassed to wear them?
Norm Smith especially, your medal gets hidden or ripped off just because it’s not what you’re after.
It’s so disrespectful imo.

Yeah that was very strange the way McCrae explained his reluctance to accept the medal named after his own club’s number one ranked on their hall of fame list and immortal legend figure of the game itself.

The way he folded it up and slid it towards Robbo like he was embarrassed to own it was weird.

 

[Shane Heard]

No, should only be for those that played and Bob Murphy.

Bob would’ve accepted a spare one for sure..

 

[harper2bastinac]

I don’t think the entire squad should get one (imagine an 18 year old rookie or cat b rookie that played basketball who’s averaging 10 disposals a game in the vfl and on the verge of being delisted getting one)
But I’d like to know if anyone thinks these would be fair:
Option 1: both clubs get to nominate 3 players who didn’t play as long as they aren’t missing with suspension (say bulldogs with murphy, Melbourne with jones, wc with nic nat, Collingwood with mcstay/adams)
Option 2: any players in the squad who played let’s say 20 games that season qualifies for a medal.

 

[PieLebo87]

Yeah that was very strange the way McCrae explained his reluctance to accept the medal named after his own club’s number one ranked on their hall of fame list and immortal legend figure of the game itself.

The way he folded it up and slid it towards Robbo like he was embarrassed to own it was weird.

It’s nothing new in his demeanour this year though. Even Robbo professed that throughout the year whenever he’d say ‘you’, Fly would reply with ‘we’ when referencing Collingwood’s rise/performance on the back of the coaches.

It definitely wasn’t meant disrespectfully towards Jock McHale and what the medal means. He’s just a selfless person who is acknowledging the same hard work that was put in by his assistant coaches.

If it was in reference to something negative, you’d be right in feeling he is deflecting responsibility, but he is simply recognising that Collingwood’s success is a combined effort, and not just his.

 

[PieLebo87]

I don’t think the entire squad should get one (imagine an 18 year old rookie or cat b rookie that played basketball who’s averaging 10 disposals a game in the vfl and on the verge of being delisted getting one)
But I’d like to know if anyone thinks these would be fair:
Option 1: both clubs get to nominate 3 players who didn’t play as long as they aren’t missing with suspension (say bulldogs with murphy, Melbourne with jones, wc with nic nat, Collingwood with mcstay/adams)
Option 2: any players in the squad who played let’s say 20 games that season qualifies for a medal.

Option 1: Would you/I/anyone ever refer to those players as premiership players though? No medal would compensate for not playing. I’d personally decline it if I hadn’t played on the big day.

Option 2: Opens up a Pandora’s box. What if a superstar who wins games off his own boot only plays 19 games?

 

[Shadow89]

Think it should be simply, if you play in Finals and then miss out on the Granny because your team won, you've therefore contributed to the team that won the flag and should be recognized as such.

So if a player gets an injury, gets suspended or misses for a personal reason/structure wise - then those players still get acknowledged overall.

Alternatively, just have the 26 named as team and emergency, presented with a Premiership Medal. Means clubs could name a hard luck story that deserves one, but then not too many players are getting one as well. They're also in the 'squad', so it's not like they're not part of the match day experience already.

Could have had McStay, Noble and Adams as the emergencies this way, and kept the 23 the same. Same goes for us and Holmes, Menegola and Sav last year.

 

[Shane Heard]

It’s nothing new in his demeanour this year though. Even Robbo professed that throughout the year whenever he’d say ‘you’, Fly would reply with ‘we’ when referencing Collingwood’s rise/performance on the back of the coaches.

It definitely wasn’t meant disrespectfully towards Jock McHale and what the medal means. He’s just a selfless person who is acknowledging the same hard work that was put in by his assistant coaches.

If it was in reference to something negative, you’d be right in feeling he is deflecting responsibility, but he is simply recognising that Collingwood’s success is a combined effort, and not just his.

Yes we all know he means well…I’m just surprised he even mentioned it live on air.
Should’ve just said nothing about it and kept his own view of the medal to himself.

It’s like Buckley whipping the norm smith off his neck the moment he stepped off the podium. Doesn’t look good.

But anyway…who cares, that’s how they want to roll. No harm to the game done.

 

[Purple Suit]

I feel there is no real rationale to this argument. It is purely emotive.

It ain’t broke.

A premiership medal is given to a player who played in a premiership, not to all players who played in the eventual premier’s team at some stage.

Where do we draw the line? Hypothetically, it’s 15 games. What happens when a star who played 14 games has a season ending injury? What if they single-handedly won the club 3-4 games that year?

Similar logic to what Fly spoke about yesterday on 360 - he hasn’t worn his Jock McHale medal because he feels it was a combined effort with all his coaches. I respect that, but why don’t the entire coaching group also get a medal? It wasn’t just the senior coach who got his side to a flag winning position.

I vote no. Leave it as it is.

It is broke though. Someone can play the whole year and get injured during the finals while a sub comes in and plays 1/4 for a medal.

As soon as subs started, the medal got devalued anyway. We should just give one to every player than played an AFL game during the year, history will always show who did what on Grand Final Day. I recon Frampton's owes some team mates some Beers for his.

 

[PieLebo87]

Yes we all know he means well…I’m just surprised he even mentioned it live on air.
Should’ve just said nothing about it and kept his own view of the medal to himself.

It’s like Buckley whipping the norm smith off his neck the moment he stepped off the podium. Doesn’t look good.

But anyway…who cares, that’s how they want to roll. No harm to the game done.

Abit of the old, ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ - if Bucks had kept the Norm Smith on, it would’ve looked very FIGJAM of him to keep it on as he stood with his mates watching the other side get presented their premiership.