Swans chat 2023 Club Champion Award Night - Thursday 5 October

[i'm-uninformed2]

Can we imagine how much Errol is going to win the Bob Skilton Medal by? Lord, it'll be quite the gap. Partly because unlike the Brownlow, the 5-4-3-2-1 will see him gather some votes in the first half of the year; then whoosh - see ya later boys.

My early guess, without putting too much thought into it, is he obviously takes first, then Chad, Blakey and Parker mix it for the next three (I'd personally go Blakey, Parker, Chad) then the rest of the top 10 will round out with - in no particular order - Ollie, Lloyd, McLean (who also grabs most improved), Rowie, Heeney and Paps.

[dejavoodoo44]

Can we imagine how much Errol is going to win the Bob Skilton Medal by? Lord, it'll be quite the gap. Partly because unlike the Brownlow, the 5-4-3-2-1 will see him gather some votes in the first half of the year; then whoosh - see ya later boys.

My early guess, without putting too much thought into it, is he obviously takes first, then Chad, Blakey and Parker mix it for the next three (I'd personally go Blakey, Parker, Chad) then the rest of the top 10 will round out with - in no particular order - Ollie, Lloyd, McLean (who also grabs most improved), Rowie, Heeney and Paps.

Yes, I've been wondering whether to write a preview, but with the winner being such a foregone conclusion, I don't know if I can be arsed? Although, there is the top ten, most improved, best VFL player, etc.

[liz]

Can we imagine how much Errol is going to win the Bob Skilton Medal by? Lord, it'll be quite the gap. Partly because unlike the Brownlow, the 5-4-3-2-1 will see him gather some votes in the first half of the year; then whoosh - see ya later boys.

.

I've taken the liberty of moving your post and using it to kick off a thread dedicated to the upcoming Swans' awards night.

Here's a full list of the awards to be awarded this year, in case people wish to post their guesses/nominations. Or just top ten predictions for the B&F.

Bob Skilton Medal (Winner, best and fairest)
Adam Goodes Trophy (Runner up, best and fairest)
Peter Bedford Trophy (Third, best and fairest)
Rising Star Award
Dennis Carroll Award for Most Improved
Barry Round Best Clubman Award
Paul Kelly Players' Player
VFL Player of the Year
VFL Development Squad - Player of the Year.

I think the last one on the list - the VFL Development Squad player of the year - is a new award this year. I can only guess at the criteria, but I presume it's for the younger players in the VFL squad. U19? U20? And I imagine the U18 academy players are eligible too, as well as those borrowed for the odd game here and there from the SFL, though none of them would have played enough games to be in the running.

Not many of the younger brigade played many games. The most was probably Indhi Kirk, despite being on U18 championship duties for chunks of the season. I imagine he's in with a pretty good shot of winning this award.

I find it hard to see anyone challenging Jake Bartholomeaus for the VFL Player of the Year award. I don't think he had an outstanding year but he played most (maybe all?) the games. Morrison missed a few, and never quite hit the form he did last year, while Shipley missed a decent handful of games.

My top ten for the B&F count (without much confidence beyond number 1)

1 Gulden
2 Blakey
3 Parker
4 McLean
5 Lloyd
6 Rowbottom
7 Warner
8 Papley
9 Cunningham
10 Heeney

I'm unsure where to slot Warner in. As we were reminded last night, his best games of the year were very good. But it's traditionally been hard to finish high in the count if you miss more than a game or two. It won't help him that the four he missed were while the team was going quite well, meaning lots of player would have polled votes.

[bandwagon]

Personally I'd be picking Campbell as most improved. Also, Mills had a relatively modest year, but I'd still have him in our Top 10.
And I'm interested to compare how many votes Amartey gets compared to McLean. The umpires gave Amartey more Brownlow votes, but I feel McLean has been more consistent, which appears to count for more with the Skilton.

[liz]

Personally I'd be picking Campbell as most improved. Also, Mills had a relatively modest year, but I'd still have him in our Top 10.
And I'm interested to compare how many votes Amartey gets compared to McLean. The umpires gave Amartey more Brownlow votes, but I feel McLean has been more consistent, which appears to count for more with the Skilton.

McLean played a lot more games than Amartey. 22 to 15. Though in going to look up how many Amartey actually played, I realised my memory had failed me re McLean. I thought he played all 24 matches this year, but now realise he was dropped in round 3 to accommodate the return of Franklin from suspension, after Joel "three votes" Amartey and Logan "one vote" McDonald proved undroppable after their performances against Hawthorn in round 2. He (McLean) returned to the side in round 5.

Given that, I've probably been a bit ambitious for McLean in predicting a top five finish in the B&F. I still think he's a good chance at top ten, but fifth might be pushing things.

While checking, I also realised that Chad only missed three games, not four. So maybe I've been a bit harsh on him.

Mills missed four and I think he was subbed out quite early in one match. So that will handicap him.

[BRS328]

Give it a go. It is always a bit of fun to read

[i'm-uninformed2]

Is our Rising Star awarded to any player in his first two years at the club?

Unlike recent prior years, not a lot of contenders. I'm guessing Sheldrick.

As for McLean, I'm his biggest booster on here, and even I think he'll only be in the 6-10 range. Still a great achievement for a guy that was really no more than a depth player at the start of the year.

[liz]

LIVE BLOG: 2022 Club Champion Dinner, presented by Volkswagen

I'm learning I should really do more research before I first post.

I found a blog from last year's B&F awards that clarifies some of the awards, particularly the VFL awards. Last year Will Gould won the VFL player of the year, so my thought process that it was open only to non-AFL-listed players was wrong. But it seems the VFL Development Squad award is open to the non-listed players, not just to the very young players in the squad. Harry Morrison won it last year.

So my nomination of Bartholomeaus for the VFL player needs to be switched to VFL Development Squad award.

Who wins the VFL Player of the Year? Gould is probably in the running again. Maybe Stephens, though I suspect he played too many senior games. Rankin? Warner? McAndrew? Magor? I'm going to plump for McAndrew.

[Blood Fever]

I've taken the liberty of moving your post and using it to kick off a thread dedicated to the upcoming Swans' awards night.

Here's a full list of the awards to be awarded this year, in case people wish to post their guesses/nominations. Or just top ten predictions for the B&F.

Bob Skilton Medal (Winner, best and fairest)
Adam Goodes Trophy (Runner up, best and fairest)
Peter Bedford Trophy (Third, best and fairest)
Rising Star Award
Dennis Carroll Award for Most Improved
Barry Round Best Clubman Award
Paul Kelly Players' Player
VFL Player of the Year
VFL Development Squad - Player of the Year.

I think the last one on the list - the VFL Development Squad player of the year - is a new award this year. I can only guess at the criteria, but I presume it's for the younger players in the VFL squad. U19? U20? And I imagine the U18 academy players are eligible too, as well as those borrowed for the odd game here and there from the SFL, though none of them would have played enough games to be in the running.

Not many of the younger brigade played many games. The most was probably Indhi Kirk, despite being on U18 championship duties for chunks of the season. I imagine he's in with a pretty good shot of winning this award.

I find it hard to see anyone challenging Jake Bartholomeaus for the VFL Player of the Year award. I don't think he had an outstanding year but he played most (maybe all?) the games. Morrison missed a few, and never quite hit the form he did last year, while Shipley missed a decent handful of games.

My top ten for the B&F count (without much confidence beyond number 1)

1 Gulden
2 Blakey
3 Parker
4 McLean
5 Lloyd
6 Rowbottom
7 Warner
8 Papley
9 Cunningham
10 Heeney

I'm unsure where to slot Warner in. As we were reminded last night, his best games of the year were very good. But it's traditionally been hard to finish high in the count if you miss more than a game or two. It won't help him that the four he missed were while the team was going quite well, meaning lots of player would have polled votes.

Florent faded but was good in the first half of the season.

[dejavoodoo44]

Thanks for writing the intro that I was too lazy to write.
However, I will be helpful by listing the coaches votes for our players, which is a vague guide to the results.
Gulden - 90 votes. Warner - 50. Blakey - 38. Parker - 36. Papley - 18. Heeney - 16. Florent and Mills - 15 each. Hayward - 10. Amartey - 9. Rampe - 8. Lloyd and McLean - 7. Franklin - 6. Cunningham, Ladhams, McCartin and McDonald - 5. Campbell and Rowbottom - 4. Stephens - 3. Hickey - 2.

Also, as has been noted, the number of games played has an influence; so here are the players that managed at least twenty games.
Blakey, Cunningham, Florent, Gulden and Rowbottom - 24 games. Campbell, Hayward, Heeney, Lloyd, Papley and Parker - 23. McLean - 22. Warner - 21. Fox, McDonald and Mills - 20.

[Nico]

Will Mills be there? Maybe with a brown paper bag over his head. Who will give the leadership/captains speech, if there is one?

[chalbilto]

Either Rampe or Parker.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Errol is already leading at halfway. This is going to be an absurdly wide margin.

(PS: Who’s the MC? Said we played the Gold Coast “Titans” in round 1.)

[liz]

I don't think I've ever seen a player "achieve" what Errol did in the first Freo game - score 49 points. Usually if a player puts in a performance to warrant maximum votes from most of the coaches, he'll earn it from all. I wonder which of the coaches was the Scrooge who only gave him nine points.

[rickmat]

The "love" link doesn't seem to be working. Is anyone else having issues? Or are they on a dinner break????