The structures and parameters of the league's most coveted and prestigious individual award, the Brownlow medal, needs to be changed, according to former Fremantle coach Chris Connolly.
One change that would be made in Connolly's opinion would be that voting would no longer be in the hands of the umpires, saying they already have enough to focus on during a game.
"It has to be changed, it has to be taken out of the umpires hands and the 3-2-1 is ridiculous. The player who gets three votes is not three times better than the player who gets one vote,โ Connolly said on SEN.
โIn AFL (weโre) really progressive in so many areas, we donโt discriminate against cultures, we donโt discriminate against religions, we donโt discriminate against women, we donโt discriminate against anyone except key position players in the Brownlow Medal.
โTo win the Brownlow Medal you have no chance of winning if youโre a key position player. It is a midfielderโs award and that has got to be changed.
โIn 50 yearsโ time when they want to track back and see the performances of players in this modern era now, theyโll be looking at the awards systems.โ
Connolly suggested a six-man group that would be eligible to win the award comprising of the best players from each position.
โPut together a large group who select this. Firstly the best small defender, tall defender, inside and outside midfielders and tall and small forwards,โ he said.
โSo we have six award winners on the night.
โThen out of that group you would select the Brownlow Medallist, the person who has had the biggest influence in his team performing across the year.
โYouโre going to select the correct player. A champion player always wins it, but itโs always a midfielder and itโs not right.โ
As for voting, the former Dockers' coach believes club coaching staff and former coaches who are now in the media (himself, coincidentally) should vote on the award.
โThe people who select the award winners, not the one award winner โ the award winners and there will be an ultimate Brownlow Medallist should be made up of firstly โ the coaching staffs of each club,โ Connolly said.
โRichmond (for example) would select a coach to be in involved in just making sure they keep an eye on the performance around the competition, via the Champion Data stats, all the vision they watch, all the conversations they have about who is dominating the competition the most.
โThe coaches have to be involved.
โI think people in the media who understand performance, not the off-field dramas, or on-field, but performances.
โThose are guys who have been ex-coaches like a David King, coach at Richmond, now in the media.โ
While Connolly's idea widen's the range of players who may have a chance to win the award, the league's ruckmen may take exception to his suggestion, with the best ruckman seemingly not getting a run in his group of award winners.
While Connolly's suggestions are somewhat left-field, there have been several calls for an overhaul of the Brownlow system in recent times.
