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Get rid of captains, re-jig the Brownlow

01/22/2012 04:04:15 AM

Now that we've reached the new age of football, everybody's got managers, everybody's got conditioning coaches, everybody's got personal trainers, it's about time we got rid of the captain.

The captain's a thing of the past and has been for the last three or four years.

They have leadership groups now and there's no real place for a captain out on the football field.

They have line coaches like the Americans, a forward line coach, a back line coach, midfield coach, specialist marking coaches, ruck coaches and head coaches, the captain is just a waste of time.

I'm afraid things like the captaincy and Brownlow Medal have got to be re-jigged.

The Brownlow Medal is a thing of the past.

Fairest and best? It reminds me of blokes running around with a white handkerchief signalling the ball's out of bounds.

It's from a bygone era, it's finished.

They've got to move on, they've got to create a panel of nine people who go and watch a game every week to make a judgment on voting.

Someone who knows the game, knows what's happening.

Take the example of David Zaharakis, you would never consider him to be a champion footballer but he won Essendon's best-and-fairest last year.

He wasn't outstanding like Jobe Watson or Michael Hurley but he did the job asked of him by the coach.

This is what's got to happen, the league have got to step in and invite people who know what they're talking about in football and make them accountable for the Brownlow Medal.

Still call it the Brownlow Medal but take it out of the hands of the umpires because, in actual fact, umpires have usually never played the game of football, don't understand the tactics, don't understand the position of players or what their roles are and they vote at the end of it on the most important award going around.

It's a bit like the Norm Smith Medal - the journalists' medal. Every now and then journalists rotate, sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong.

I would never vote on netball because I don't know enough about it, sometimes some football scribes shouldn't vote on football because they don't know enough about it.

But it's a new era now and we've got to revamp it, we've gone the American way, I suppose we should go on and become truly American.

Old habits die hard, but we've got to progress.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
Comments
Posted by drastic at
23/01/2012 07:46 PM
while i agree the brownlow medal is a farce with the most visible/popular players on the field often winning. i completely disagree on the captain idea. Even suggesting the idea is farcical. A captain rallies his players and great captains like brett kirk often rallied his players when they were down. As for you're nfl comments, there are still offensive and defensive captains so that points pretty moot too.
Posted by Eliza at
23/01/2012 08:55 PM
Gee, why don't we change everything? Let's use a round ball instead of oval, let's use 2 sticks instead of 4, Let's use a bat, instead of kicking the ball,let's use ex-footballers to umpire, because they know more. You've written some ridiculous stories in the past, Crackers, but this is your silliest ever.
Posted by East17 at
24/01/2012 07:35 AM
There is a reason he is called 'crackers', this eccentric diatribe by Keenan just re-enforces a long held view that he is a fringe intellect. So, we ditch the Australian cricket captain too. Crackers was never a captain so will never understand the importance of this role in many team sports.
Posted by Graham at
24/01/2012 08:24 AM
I agree with drastic. The Captain is necessary, but the Brownlow should be revamped. Every year you see the player who is most noticable on the field getting lots of vote - Dane Swan & his (horrible) tatts, Jason Akermanis (and others) & their peroxide hair. You need to go back to 1987 to see a key position player win the Brownlow. A panel on the outside looking in will balance that out.
Posted by 40 Degrees S at
30/01/2012 11:34 PM
Can't see why the Brownlow needs to be changed - if it is no good, it will lose esteem and another award, such as the AFLPA's MVP, will rise up to take its place. Let Charles Darwin's way sort it out. BUT, would prefer that only someone from the winning team could get the Norm Smith - the man himself was bout 'winning' them, not just being there.

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