Very interesting post masai. I have, over the last few days, been thinking that we as supporters should come up with another "award". Unfortunately I have been rather preoccupied with a whole of of other "stuff" that I haven't had the chance to put up a post. But you have opened the door a little for me here, and what the hell, while the other "stuff" is still there, this will provide a bit of a distraction for 10 or 15 minutes that it takes to type it all up.
My idea is that we should make an award that recognises players who go out onto the field of play and put in an effort full of heart, guts and determination - one that recognises the character of the players over the last 120 years that have played footy for, and in, Freo - be that the original FFC, Unions, EF or SF. The players who go out there, and leave a little of themselves on the field as they show the pride and passion that footballers from Freo have always been known for. As we are all aware, apart from maybe 3 or 4 players over the last 11 years - this is a spirit that the current FFC has yet to capture.
This could extend well beyond BF - it could be done on any website, or on any supporter group level or whatever. I believe that results should be communicated to the club at some level - just to let the powers that be know what what we, the supporters and members, expect from our football club - the football club that is representing the proud region of Fremantle to the rest of the country. The football club that is currently considered the softest in the league. The AFL club from Freo - an area long considered to be one of the toughest and hardest footballing areas in Australia. We, the supporters, should be the judges - not the media, not opposition fans - US. We let them know if they are doing it okay, or of they are not. We let them know which players are worthy of being a FREMANTLE player by the effort and desire they show when they play the game. We let them know who is upholding the traditions of Freo by playing for the jumper, for the club, for their team-mates, for pride and for us.
The players we vote for each week don't necessarily have to be the BOG - in fact I think just as often as not, they won't be the BOG. They will be the guys who try their guts out - even if they get beaten by their direct opponent, the ones who set as example for their team-mates. I think we should vote for no more than 2 players per week (and seriously - are we likely to get more than that....) unless the situations are extenuating - and if we think that no-one showed up; well we vote for no-one. I don't want to name names, so just as an example - say if one player racks up 30 possessions and kicks 5 goals in a win, but has done it all as a front-running receiver... then that may not be worthy of votes. But if say, someone else gets a run with role, shuts down his opponent, makes 7 or 8 tackles, lays a couple of good shepherds, doesn't pull out of any contests, put his head over the ball and body on the line consistently, but only gets 9 or 10 possessions - well that may be worth considering for a vote.
I have been thinking through a few names for this award... something that recognises who and what footy in Freo is all about. I thought of the "sickly original" names like "Freo Spirit Award", the less than serious ones like the "Kickett up the Guts Award"... but thought maybe something that recognises two recent champions of SF and EF - and by coincidence guys whose sons have made it onto the list at FFC - might be more appropriate. Blokes who gave their all, were as hard and tough and skilled as they come, never gave an inch and never backed down: the "TI-Bomber Award".
Past recipients of the award could have included Dale Kickett, Shaun McManus, Peter Bell and Troy Cook. Michael Johnson may have scored himself a point for keeping at his task and not dropping his head when given the task on BBBBazza on the weekend, even though he was soundly beaten. Troy Cook almost definfitely would have scored a point for his incessant tackling and often being the only one to be contesting the ball against 2 or 3 opponents. Pav, while highly skilled and a hard, hard worker with an enormous engine, needs to do a bit more with his 6'4", 100kg frame, and go a bit harder in some of his second efforts to be right up there... although there is little question that his heart lies with our club and he does work his butt off... but add in that unquantifiable but "extra" and he'd be there too. He needs to hurt people and go in hard and angry when he doesn't win the initial contest. Like all of them.
I think it needs to start this coming week. This is the last roll of the dice for 2005, before we start looking towards 2006 and another year of hope. How the players react will tell us a lot about their characters. We need to start scrutinising what is being done, the efforts the players are putting in, the way they represent the 120 years of proud football tradition from the Port City - and we need to let them know about it.