Yesterday I received an email from the club, informing me that the annual Club Champion Award dinner was being moved forwards to Fri 3rd September. Quite aside from indicating that the AFC have formally given up on the finals, it prompted me to wonder who might actually win the award this year.
As I see it, there is no clear favourite. There is a field of about 4-5 players who could win it, but all have suffered poor form or missed games through injury at one point or another in the season. This makes it a very difficult thing to predict.
The likely candidates as I see them are:
Simon Goodwin - I have no doubt that he will be leading the count at the end of our horror 0-6 start to the season and will have continued to poll well after that. His importance to the side has now become glaringly obvious in his absence. However, he's missed the last 3 games and it now appears likely that he has already played his last game in the Blue, Red and Gold. Can he possibly win the award, having played just 16 of 22 games this season?
Scott Thompson - Thompson started the season in relatively poor form (probably related to his knee tendinitis), before coming home like a freight train over the last month. Will his slow start to the season come back to haunt him?
Graham Johncock - Stiffy has only had 2 poor games - vs Hawthorn in R12 and vs Port in R17. Other than that he's been outstanding in every game he's played. But that's the catch - he's missed 7 games out of 19 so far due to injury and suspension. Will his outstanding form in the remaining 10 games be enough to get him over the line?
Ben Rutten - Truck has rarely played a bad game. He's spent less time on the bench than any other player in the AFL and he is always reliable and consistent. The only times he ever has his flag lowered are when the midfield loses it completely and the opposition are able to present the ball to their forwards on a silver platter (eg vs Footscray in R5). Truck has provided outstanding leadership in defence, holding things together even when all the other senior defenders were watching from the grandstand. However, history shows that he's not a big vote winner, even when he does perform well. Will history be re-written? Can he poll enough votes to win his first yellow jacket?
Richard Douglas - Pizza Boy would have to be the smokey in the field. If I'd suggested 12 months ago that he might win the yellow jacket then you'd probably be arranging a straight jacket for me before I finished typing. 2010 has been different though - Dougy has stood up when all others around him were faltering. He's performed to a consistent standard pretty much since the start of the season. Will his consistency be enough to see him win the award, with all the other candidates failing to poll in so many rounds?
So.. who do you think will win the Club Champion award - and why?
As I see it, there is no clear favourite. There is a field of about 4-5 players who could win it, but all have suffered poor form or missed games through injury at one point or another in the season. This makes it a very difficult thing to predict.
The likely candidates as I see them are:
Simon Goodwin - I have no doubt that he will be leading the count at the end of our horror 0-6 start to the season and will have continued to poll well after that. His importance to the side has now become glaringly obvious in his absence. However, he's missed the last 3 games and it now appears likely that he has already played his last game in the Blue, Red and Gold. Can he possibly win the award, having played just 16 of 22 games this season?
Scott Thompson - Thompson started the season in relatively poor form (probably related to his knee tendinitis), before coming home like a freight train over the last month. Will his slow start to the season come back to haunt him?
Graham Johncock - Stiffy has only had 2 poor games - vs Hawthorn in R12 and vs Port in R17. Other than that he's been outstanding in every game he's played. But that's the catch - he's missed 7 games out of 19 so far due to injury and suspension. Will his outstanding form in the remaining 10 games be enough to get him over the line?
Ben Rutten - Truck has rarely played a bad game. He's spent less time on the bench than any other player in the AFL and he is always reliable and consistent. The only times he ever has his flag lowered are when the midfield loses it completely and the opposition are able to present the ball to their forwards on a silver platter (eg vs Footscray in R5). Truck has provided outstanding leadership in defence, holding things together even when all the other senior defenders were watching from the grandstand. However, history shows that he's not a big vote winner, even when he does perform well. Will history be re-written? Can he poll enough votes to win his first yellow jacket?
Richard Douglas - Pizza Boy would have to be the smokey in the field. If I'd suggested 12 months ago that he might win the yellow jacket then you'd probably be arranging a straight jacket for me before I finished typing. 2010 has been different though - Dougy has stood up when all others around him were faltering. He's performed to a consistent standard pretty much since the start of the season. Will his consistency be enough to see him win the award, with all the other candidates failing to poll in so many rounds?
So.. who do you think will win the Club Champion award - and why?
