New NEAFL MVP Award
By Sam Canavan
For the first three years of its split conference existence the NEAFL has presented separate end-of-season best and fairest awards: the Grogan Medal given to the North’s premier player, with the Mulrooney the prize gong for the Eastern Conference.
But with a single 14-team competition set to get underway in 2014, the Grogan and Mulrooney will make way for the NEAFL MVP award.
Uniquely, the award will be decided by both umpires and coach’s votes, submitted post game via the match day paperwork, with votes cast on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Coaches will meet directly after a game’s conclusion and decide on the best five players on the ground, submitting a single round of 5-4-3-2-1 votes between them.
Umpiring submissions will be largely the same as in the past, with all umpires discussing standout individuals, before finalising their top five picks.
As such, the maximum amount of votes a single player can earn per match is 10 – courtesy of the maximum five votes from both umpires and coaches, and with more votes cast than ever before, the likelihood of a tied count is lessened considerably.
This structure is a departure from the style of the Grogan and Mulrooney Medals, which were decided solely by the umpires, and judged with 3-2-1 votes, in the vein of the AFL’s Brownlow Medal, and NEAFL Operations Manager Patrick Carter is enthused about the award’s innovative format.
“The NEAFL MVP award is a really exciting addition to the competition; with the conferences combining as one it’s fitting we have one big individual prize,” Carter said.
“We wanted the MVP to reward the best player in the competiton, and with the input of coaches and umpires, as well as the significantly higher amount of votes being cast, I believe that will happen.
“I can’t wait to see who comes out on top in September – maybe someone will stake their claim to have the award named in their honour!
The progress of the MVP voting will be published on the NEAFL website for the first 16 rounds of the season, but they’ll be withheld from that point on, with the winner announced at the end of season function, alongside the ‘Team of the Year’ announcement.
As in the past, any player ruled out through suspension during the year will be ineligible for the award.