It almost seemed destiny that the AFL’s newest star would win some form of accolade after his first season at the game’s biggest awards night.
Harley Reid was out of the running for the Rising Star due to suspension, so instead, his stunning running major back in Round 10 took out the prize for Goal of the Year.
The number one draft pick dropped jaws when he took possession of the ball from the centre bounce and blasted past Christian Petracca at pace, bouncing the ball three times to just inside 50 and sending the ball through the main sticks.
He beat Nick Daicos who had two entries in the final – one against the Gold Coast in Round 16 where he touched the ball three different times on the one sizzling play before weaving between defenders and slotting it home.
The other was against Brisbane in 23, when the Magpies midfielder took possession of the ball around the centre circle, before using blistering speed to get around two Lions and into the 50 – then showed great accuracy on the run.
They were three impressive goals that took a lot of skill – but were they really the best of the year?
There were two goals, at least, that I would argue are better all those three.
Zach Merrett was pinned hard up against the boundary the best part of 40 metres out from goal in the Bombers’ match against the Saints in Round 20; cue a ridiculous goal forgotten in the haze of the Dons’ humiliating loss.
Anthony Hudson for Fox Footy called it as a ‘miracle’, while Garry Lyon, who knows a thing or two about kicking goals, was left in awe.
“He’s kicked it the conventional drop punt, then it starts to lose momentum, then draws back towards the goalsquare – if he meant it, he’s a genius,” Lyon described it.
Another significantly better goal than Reid or Daicos’ was Jack Higgins in Round 2 against Collingwood, from was right on the intersection of the 50-metre arc and the boundary.
Brian Taylor actually called the ball out, that’s how close he was to the boundary on an extremely tight angle. He somehow had the precision to get his side a crucial goal under heavy pressure.
It wouldn’t have been amiss to have also included Bayley Fritsch’s matchwinner against Geelong either; how he rolled it along the deck, perfectly timing the twist through the goal from the boundary line, was superb just for the technique alone.
What on earth were the judges looking for?
To have Reid and Daicos’ as the goals which made the final, effectively for typical midfielder’s skills, kind of makes a joke of the award.
Reid’s winner and Daicos’ second one against the Lions just used pace in open paddock, then finished by kicking a goal on the run that both would expect to put through nine times out of ten.
Higgins and Merrett basically pulled off the near impossible from tight angles and long distances from goal – both should have made the finals.
The judges also got Mark of the Year wrong. It was a good hanger from Bobby Hill, but ever since his teammate Jamie Elliott climbed over Ben McKay on Anzac Day, the top prize should have only gone his way.
Perhaps the only one that came close to Elliott all year was Isaac Heeney, who probably should have been considered for his screamer in week one of the finals – but only those marks taken in the home and away season are eligible.
Those head-scratchers came on a night when the Brownlow numbers almost seemed too good to be true for both Patrick Cripps and Daicos.
While the midfielders were always joint favourites, no one could have predicted their monster hauls.
There were no real indicators of Cripps’ landslide, nor any factors that pointed to the huge win.
Firstly, Carlton were only really competitive for half of the season, falling away from second to only just make the finals. He was either picking up votes in losing performances, or being best on ground in commanding wins – or both.
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Cripps passed the previous best haul of 36, set by 2017 and 2021 winners Dustin Martin and Ollie Wines – Daicos’ 38 would have also set the record in any other year.
Let’s compare those top two and whether the order was right.
Cripps kicked 17 goals and had 13 goal assists, compared to Daicos’ 20 goals and had 18 assists. The Magpie had 169 score involvements, two ahead of Cripps.
Patrick Cripps. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
In the middle of the ground, Cripps did finish equal-top of all players in the competition for clearances, alongside Lachie Neale with 193. Daicos was next best with 176.
Defensively, the Brownlow Medallist made 129 tackles for the season, again well ahead of Daicos with 87, and had slightly more ‘pressure acts’ with 489 to 481.
On their own, the above numbers mean little, but even on optics, both of these men must have ‘vote harvested’, where they took votes off underperforming teammates in wins, where their stars were often left to clean up the sloppiness.
Cripps and Daicos had great seasons in often losing sides, yes: but were they 45-vote and 38-vote seasons – which will now hold the record for a long long time?
Hardly.
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