Tweet
Heath Evans
The AFL Players’ Best First Year Player award was launched in 1998 and has recognised some of the most electrifying talent of the modern era.
Goodes, Kerr, Judd, Wells and Davey won the award in the early years, while more recently Selwood, Murphy, Deledio, Rich and Palmer have received the nod from their peers proving that the award is a highly accurate predictor of who will become the future stars of the modern game.
In 2010, the winner was a player who experienced a very different path to AFL football. Fremantle’s Michael Barlow did not play TAC Cup as a junior, instead Barlow was still playing for Shepparton United in the Goulburn Valley league at the age of 19.
He then moved to VFL club Werribee in 2008 where he quickly established himself, and after a breakout year in 2009, he was drafted by Fremantle as a mature aged rookie.
In his 2010 debut, he racked up 33 possessions and two goals against the Crows and continued in this form until a sickening knee injury ended what was one of the most remarkable debut seasons we have since the inception of this award.
Due to his age, Barlow was ineligible for the NAB Rising Star Award. Fortunately for him, there is no age restriction on the Best First Year Players Award. Barlow proved to to be one of the most popular winners of all time, taking the award with by more than 300 votes.
In the same year, James Podsiadly had also burst onto the scene and left many questioning whether mature aged recruits who could instantly play senior footy should be more prominent on the radars of club recruiting managers.
In 2011, another intriguing player has revealed himself in Nick Duigan, who has a very different story but shares some similarities with Barlow and Podsiadly.
Duigan was 26 years old, had a Masters Degree in Psychology and was playing for Norwood in the SANFL when he was picked up by the Blues with pick 70. At the time of the draft he was about to leave the country join his girlfriend in Kenya. There they were planning to assist in a drug and alcohol counselling rehab unit.
As a mature aged player, Duigan himself has admitted he was not the most gifted junior with injuries prevented him reaching his peak until much later in his career. However after an outstanding year in the Blues’ backline, perhaps Duigan can follow in Barlow’s footsteps and win the 2011 AFL Players’ Best First Year Player Award.
Duigan is only one of a number of contenders for the award this year. Dyson Heppell is another prominent contender. After being taken with pick 8 by the Bombers he has many pundits believing he can not only win the Best First Year Player award but is a strong chance to take out the Bombers Best and Fairest award as well.
Gold Coast number 1 draft pick David Swallow has also had an outstanding first year, proving his ability to win his own footy and also showing his athleticism and aerobic capacity.
Challenging Swallow is the amazing left boot of Trent McKenzie who has received several Goal of the Yearnominations and has been labelled as one of the most dangerous kicks in the game.
Teammate Brandon Matera has shown shades of his uncle Peter with his awareness around goals, while versatile ruckman Zac Smith has held his own against elite opposition and looks set to become a premier ruckman in years to come.
In the West, Jack Darling has left many recruiters scratching their head as why he wasn’t picked up in the first round of the Draft.While alongside him Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff have also demonstrated their ability to run hard through the midfield and have all been crucial in the revival of the Eagles and are set for September action.
In Geelong, the absence of Gary Ablett has allowed several young midfielders to step up and show their skills in the pivot. Mitch Duncan, Daniel Menzel and Allen Christensen have diverse styles but share versatility and their ability to sneak forward and kicks goals has tormented opposition coaches.
At the Hawks, mature aged rookie Isaac Smith has been the talking point. At the beginning of last year, Smith was playing with Redan in the Ballarat league however after several classy performances he found himself a member of the North Ballarat VFL side and finished the season a premiership player. After being recruited by the Hawks he has never looked back and together with Shane Savage, Paul Puopolo and Luke Breust have shown the depth at the Hawks is as good as any team in the league.
In the harbour state the standout has been Sam Reid, older brother of Ben Reid, who presents as a power forward and after a big preseason looks set to become a great long term key position forward for the Swans.
Whilst at the Tigers, Reece Conca has justified his first round selection as has Brodie Smith for the Crows.
Finally, throw in names like Zac Clarke and Tendai Mzungu from the Dockers, Luke Dahlhaus and Tom Liberatore from the Bulldogs and the hard- nosed Alex Fasola from the Magpies and we have a fierce competition for who will be voted the 2011 AFL Players’ Best First Year Player.
The AFL Players’ Best First Year Player award was launched in 1998 and has recognised some of the most electrifying talent of the modern era.
Goodes, Kerr, Judd, Wells and Davey won the award in the early years, while more recently Selwood, Murphy, Deledio, Rich and Palmer have received the nod from their peers proving that the award is a highly accurate predictor of who will become the future stars of the modern game.
In 2010, the winner was a player who experienced a very different path to AFL football. Fremantle’s Michael Barlow did not play TAC Cup as a junior, instead Barlow was still playing for Shepparton United in the Goulburn Valley league at the age of 19.
He then moved to VFL club Werribee in 2008 where he quickly established himself, and after a breakout year in 2009, he was drafted by Fremantle as a mature aged rookie.
In his 2010 debut, he racked up 33 possessions and two goals against the Crows and continued in this form until a sickening knee injury ended what was one of the most remarkable debut seasons we have since the inception of this award.
Due to his age, Barlow was ineligible for the NAB Rising Star Award. Fortunately for him, there is no age restriction on the Best First Year Players Award. Barlow proved to to be one of the most popular winners of all time, taking the award with by more than 300 votes.
In the same year, James Podsiadly had also burst onto the scene and left many questioning whether mature aged recruits who could instantly play senior footy should be more prominent on the radars of club recruiting managers.
In 2011, another intriguing player has revealed himself in Nick Duigan, who has a very different story but shares some similarities with Barlow and Podsiadly.
Duigan was 26 years old, had a Masters Degree in Psychology and was playing for Norwood in the SANFL when he was picked up by the Blues with pick 70. At the time of the draft he was about to leave the country join his girlfriend in Kenya. There they were planning to assist in a drug and alcohol counselling rehab unit.
As a mature aged player, Duigan himself has admitted he was not the most gifted junior with injuries prevented him reaching his peak until much later in his career. However after an outstanding year in the Blues’ backline, perhaps Duigan can follow in Barlow’s footsteps and win the 2011 AFL Players’ Best First Year Player Award.
Duigan is only one of a number of contenders for the award this year. Dyson Heppell is another prominent contender. After being taken with pick 8 by the Bombers he has many pundits believing he can not only win the Best First Year Player award but is a strong chance to take out the Bombers Best and Fairest award as well.
Gold Coast number 1 draft pick David Swallow has also had an outstanding first year, proving his ability to win his own footy and also showing his athleticism and aerobic capacity.
Challenging Swallow is the amazing left boot of Trent McKenzie who has received several Goal of the Yearnominations and has been labelled as one of the most dangerous kicks in the game.
Teammate Brandon Matera has shown shades of his uncle Peter with his awareness around goals, while versatile ruckman Zac Smith has held his own against elite opposition and looks set to become a premier ruckman in years to come.
In the West, Jack Darling has left many recruiters scratching their head as why he wasn’t picked up in the first round of the Draft.While alongside him Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff have also demonstrated their ability to run hard through the midfield and have all been crucial in the revival of the Eagles and are set for September action.
In Geelong, the absence of Gary Ablett has allowed several young midfielders to step up and show their skills in the pivot. Mitch Duncan, Daniel Menzel and Allen Christensen have diverse styles but share versatility and their ability to sneak forward and kicks goals has tormented opposition coaches.
At the Hawks, mature aged rookie Isaac Smith has been the talking point. At the beginning of last year, Smith was playing with Redan in the Ballarat league however after several classy performances he found himself a member of the North Ballarat VFL side and finished the season a premiership player. After being recruited by the Hawks he has never looked back and together with Shane Savage, Paul Puopolo and Luke Breust have shown the depth at the Hawks is as good as any team in the league.
In the harbour state the standout has been Sam Reid, older brother of Ben Reid, who presents as a power forward and after a big preseason looks set to become a great long term key position forward for the Swans.
Whilst at the Tigers, Reece Conca has justified his first round selection as has Brodie Smith for the Crows.
Finally, throw in names like Zac Clarke and Tendai Mzungu from the Dockers, Luke Dahlhaus and Tom Liberatore from the Bulldogs and the hard- nosed Alex Fasola from the Magpies and we have a fierce competition for who will be voted the 2011 AFL Players’ Best First Year Player.
Comment