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Last night Kirky polled extremely well. I am very suprised, but very happy of course, by his 20 votes, considering he hardly got a vote last year. He is also an All-Australian this year.
I thought his 2003 season was better than this season, yet he got snubbed in both the Brownlow and AA selection last year.
As another example of preconceived opinions of players, Willo had an outstanding 2002, yet was snubbed in the AA selection. In 2003, he had a good year again and earned AA selection, but I believe his 2003 was not quite as good as his 2002.
My point is I think this shows that the judges for these competitions (umpires for Brownlow, media & AFL bigwigs for AA) base a lot of their judgements on preconceived opinions they have formed over a period of time. I believe that it required the media to get behind Kirky and praise his efforts consistently over a long period before the umpires started to believe that he really was doing a good job, so this year they were looking out for him.
If this is the case, then it could be the same for how the umpires perceive Barry Hall. Over many years they have learned to fear him and see him as tough enough to stand up for himself. As such, perhaps subconsciously, they dont give him a fair go with free kicks. I seriously doubt the umpires simply judge a contest on its merits without any particular preconceived prejudices against certain players. Just as they appear to not simply judge the BOG players fairly after a game without preconceived opinions of those players.
I thought his 2003 season was better than this season, yet he got snubbed in both the Brownlow and AA selection last year.
As another example of preconceived opinions of players, Willo had an outstanding 2002, yet was snubbed in the AA selection. In 2003, he had a good year again and earned AA selection, but I believe his 2003 was not quite as good as his 2002.
My point is I think this shows that the judges for these competitions (umpires for Brownlow, media & AFL bigwigs for AA) base a lot of their judgements on preconceived opinions they have formed over a period of time. I believe that it required the media to get behind Kirky and praise his efforts consistently over a long period before the umpires started to believe that he really was doing a good job, so this year they were looking out for him.
If this is the case, then it could be the same for how the umpires perceive Barry Hall. Over many years they have learned to fear him and see him as tough enough to stand up for himself. As such, perhaps subconsciously, they dont give him a fair go with free kicks. I seriously doubt the umpires simply judge a contest on its merits without any particular preconceived prejudices against certain players. Just as they appear to not simply judge the BOG players fairly after a game without preconceived opinions of those players.
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