"I thought some players were hard done by." | JJ and Kane on the Norm Smith Medal voting (29.09.26)
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Why are Shai Bolton's Norm Smith Medal votes being questioned?
Back to the show. Just going to quickly sign off on the Norm Smith medal because, Cain, it's one of the most prestigious awards in the game. You can, if you wanted to straw poll some players or some people in the community about would you prefer a Norm Smith or a Brownlow, some people vote for the Norm Smith. So that speaks to the level that this award is held to. I don't think it's, you know, the coaches' votes came out yesterday. Shea Bolton was way, way, way down the list. And Gary Ayers, sorry, Will Ashcroft collected back-to-back Gary Ayers medals again. So I think across the board, it's widely accepted that those votes that landed on Saturday were a little bit off the mark. Do you feel as strongly as I do that you should be in a working capacity or at least placed into a more controlled environment so that you can focus on the game?
Should Norm Smith voters watch the Grand Final in a controlled work environment?
To be honest, I hadn't given it a second thought until I saw the photo that Patrick Keane posted. And then you get the result that you got and then it becomes a talking point. Yeah. And then you put yourself in that position. So if you are Sean Burgon or Andrew McLeod, I'm not sure where Michael Voss watched the game from, or Chris Judd, and you're sitting watching the footy in the stands in the outer with your family, there's no way you can be as locked in as what you would be if you were working on the broadcast in a radio, in a TV, in a newspaper setting. You just wouldn't because there are distractions around. And as much as Sean's come out and rightly so has defended his votes and has expressed how seriously he has taken it.
And I thought Sean's votes were pretty good. Like Zorko, no worries if he'd got three. I thought he was a full four-quarter performer. And then I think he had Shea Bolton with one vote. Can't remember who he had at two. But yeah, I think you're going to be more locked in if you're watching it in a working environment. with all the resources that you need, more so than you're sitting there with your family, and the general population. So I get the feeling that'll change by this time next year.
Yeah, I would have thought so as well.
How can player statistics help explain controversial Norm Smith voting?
Look, a lot of the time we get seduced by numbers, but the numbers also are important to help us shape our view on what's happening in the game and the clearance numbers of Caleb Sorong. So you look at the numbers and most of the players had about the same number of disposals, even from a Dane Zorko perspective. You know, he ended up with 20 disposals in general play. He took eight kick-ins. So, you know, his number goes from 20 to 28 on the back of some kick-ins. And whether you want to, you know, negatively rate him on that or not, depending on how you feel about kick-ins. So... It was a game that, again, I accept that it was a game that you could have thrown a blanket over a handful of players, but I thought some players were really hard done by it, and then some other players were looked upon a little bit too favorably.
Did Shai Bolton's missed chances affect how voters judged his Grand Final?
I thought Shea Bolton played a game that... He found himself in a circumstance in the game where you thought, this is going to end positively for Fremantle, but it actually didn't. He kicked the ball across the face, or he missed a shot, or he sprayed an opportunity. So he looked the player on the day... where you thought, gee, Bolton's in space, he's going to do something here, but he didn't actually get to the end point of doing something. And maybe that's where some people have fallen for the Shea Bolton element. Not saying he didn't play a really good game, but he didn't finish his work in that game.
No, he didn't. He had a couple of key moments running inside forward 50 that he missed, could have just chipped it over to Voss in the last quarter, and there was another one as well. So he could have easily been the best player on the ground, but he didn't finish his work at all.
Are small forwards like Charlie Cameron underrated in Grand Final awards?
I still think we underrate small forwards and those that don't play through the midfield as well. I thought Charlie Cameron was the equal to any player on the ground right from the start. His numbers don't look as good as others, but to play that role and do what he did and to win the contest that he won, to come up the ground, he was so clean.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why are Shai Bolton's Norm Smith Medal votes being questioned?
0:02–1:01
2
Should Norm Smith voters watch the Grand Final in a controlled work environment?
1:01–2:18
3
How can player statistics help explain controversial Norm Smith voting?
2:18–3:09
4
Did Shai Bolton's missed chances affect how voters judged his Grand Final?
3:09–3:57
5
Are small forwards like Charlie Cameron underrated in Grand Final awards?
3:57–4:37
6
How is Will Ashcroft building a historic finals legacy at such a young age?
4:37–5:29
7
Could the Gary Ayres Medal be renamed for Ashcroft, and how does his dominance compare with Dusty's?
5:29–7:16
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Whateley
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