Norm Smith Medal - they got it wrong

[Clark Kent]

Dew, Brown or Hodge, daylight fourth.

Dew for mine, in that he influenced the game with some inspired play, particularly the third quarter.

what about Suart Dew

 

[JHF1870]

Loser Geelong supporters crying yet again.....didn't stop you from being arrogant pricks from the onset of victory last year.

The Norm Smith was 100% right. Hodge played a pivotal role down back.

Selwood was a better player today than Ablett. Why??? Selwood busted his ass in and around the packs, and did all the hard work. Ablett got all the clean posessions, and dodged and sidestepped players, yeah skilled, but Selwood IMO worked harder than Ablett, and I give him as Geelongs best player.

Wonder how Smug Geelong supporters are now

 

[Spook]

Luke Hodge was great today, not taking away from that, the simple fact is that Gary Ablett, like his father in a losing GF against Hawthorn 20 seasons earlier was clearly best on ground.

Kicks: 12
Handballs: 22
Efficiency: 85%
Goals: 2
Clearances: 8
Tackles: 5

Hodge was basically playing his spare man in defence role again (which he does extremely well), while Ablett carried his team for most of the game.
IMHO Abletts performance today was Judd and Bucklley like (2002,2005)

And spoils??

Do they count??

Ran off hid man and spoiled the opp on about 10 occasions.

FFS mate dont look at stas look at the game

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

62 inside 50's for 11 goals and the back line without Croad says that Hodge was immense.

34 shots on goal says the defence wasn't that clinical. It was more a case of bad kicking for goal by the Cats.

Ablett was best on ground by so far it wasn't funny.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Hodge was basically playing his spare man in defence role again

It takes courage to openly exhibit how little you understand about football, so I congratulate you for it. Spare man in defence .. is that why Geelong had two players on him all afternoon?

 

[THEBLOODS85]

34 shots on goal says the defence wasn't that clinical. It was more a case of bad kicking for goal by the Cats.

Ablett was best on ground by so far it wasn't funny.

Geelong only had 23 shots on goal idiot......11 were rushed or ran thru by Hawk defenders dunce!

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

34 shots on goal says the defence wasn't that clinical. It was more a case of bad kicking for goal by the Cats.

Ablett was best on ground by so far it wasn't funny.

Did you actually watch the game? Geelong didn't have 34 shots at goal, there were at least 10 rushed behinds in that tally.

 

[ams4crows]

hodge was awesome but Dew won them the game his 5 minute burst in the 3/4 is one of the best i've seen! and I know you can't win a normsmith for playing 5 minutes but if you could he would have won it!

 

[Seadog]

Ablett was clearly the best for Geelong but all the blokes who have won the NS in a losing side were in teams that got beaten by a narrow margin. 5 goals is too big a loss to receive the medal.

In a nutshell. It was out of Hodge and Ablett but when you lose by 4 or 5 goals someone in the opposition side has played a pretty good game. If the Cats had only lost by a few points I think Ablett would have won it.

 

[BearGrills16]

Congrats to the hawks 4 winning but
Ablett>>>daylight>>> rest of the players. Ablett was that much better than everone else it wasnt even close

 

[Pie eyed]

Sometimes I read these posts and think "what game were these people watching?"

Hodge was deservedly awarded the Norm Smith...at least 3 others ahead of Ablett.
Believe what you see not what you read.

 

[HBF]

Brad Sewell played a good game

I thought that as well. I had it between him, Hodge and Brown, with Sewell slightly in front.

 

[Biggie]

Fully deserved the medal.

Courageous, hard at it approach.

Stas arent everything.

 

[Hoova]

And Judd and Buckley shouldn't have won their's. I know the Norm Smith is technically for BOG, but really unless there is an amazingly standout performance (ie. Ablett in 89) it should always go to the winning team's best player.

The Norm Smith Medal is awarded to the player which an independent panel of experts have adjudged to have been the best player in the match.

It has nothing to do with the winning team.

The only reason that there is some correlation is because the winning team generally includes the best player on the ground.

The Norm Smith isn't designed to be circumstantial. It's not for the romantics. Hence it does not have to be awarded to a player from the winning side.

Well done Hawthorn. Well done Luke Hodge. Bad luck Ablett.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Hodge was easily Hawthorn's best over 4/4. If he wasn't there I reckon they may have been well behind at half time. I think he was the only one that was on for the whole game with others putting in cameos for quarter/half or 5 minute bursts.
Hodge, Rioli, Young and Bateman were the reason they were in front at half time.

 

[Hoova]

Did you actually watch the game? Geelong didn't have 34 shots at goal, there were at least 10 rushed behinds in that tally.

10 rushed behinds probably further proves the point that the defence wasn't clinical.

 

[Moquo]

Congrats to the hawks 4 winning but
Ablett>>>daylight>>> rest of the players. Ablett was that much better than everone else it wasnt even close

Are you saying that Ablett had more of an influence on the result?

Well done Luke Hodge, a very worthy winner of the Norm Smith Medal!

 

[Bomber32]

The voting panel got it right. Luke Hodge thoroughly deserved the Norm Smith Medal today.

 

[Trickstar]

Hodge deserved it, he influenced the game, prepared to leave his man and help out another defender, the problem with geelong is they didn't use Hodge opponent enough.

Ablett was great and if the umpires had voted he would have won it, how many times does he get caught with the ball and no free kick against, inconsistent umpiring - he was geelongs best though.

Ellis was superb, absolute superb but Hodge excellent!

 

[ralphwiggum]

As much as he is wrong when saying Hodge didn't deserve it they do want a story when picking the Norm. I made a fair bit last year on Stevie J because I though if he was in the top 5 on the ground he would get it for the "Villain to Hero" story. This year the Hodge ribs story is a great one.

I think giving the NS to Crawf would've given a better story, but that's just me

 

[dont bowl there]

I think giving the NS to Crawf would've given a better story, but that's just me

If Crawf was in the mix they probably would have gone with him, he wasn't though.

 

[THEBLOODS85]

Hodge was easily Hawthorn's best over 4/4. If he wasn't there I reckon they may have been well behind at half time. I think he was the only one that was on for the whole game with others putting in cameos for quarter/half or 5 minute bursts.
Hodge, Rioli, Young and Bateman were the reason they were in front at half time.

Disagree slightly, as Young was just as good as Hodge until 1/2 time imo.
After that Hodge continued on with his form , while Young copped an injury.
Both players kept the Hawks alive before the main break.......as well as the Cats inept efforts in front of goal.

 

[W.C. Fry]

Hodge 110% deserved the medal today. Everyone watching the game with us agreed. Bloody awesome performance.

 

[Busterkobe]

Stewie Dews 15 minutes of the third quarter changed the game, a stand out for mine

 

[Vampire013]

I went to the Game and picked Hodge as the winner after the siren.
Also thought that Cyril Rioli and Dew probably won the game for the Dawks in the 3rd quarter. Those bursts changed the momentum.