I see. Honestly, I think the AA selectors did a great job this year and I don't recall there being any discourse about Neale being "robbed" from the team or anything as such. This was probably the most balanced team we've had for some time.
It just seems maybe there is a semantics issue here - if Neale wasn't selected as an inside mid for the AA team, then is he really the best midfielder in the game? Or are the AA selectors wrong for not including him?
I think that given there was some voting discrepancy across games (like JHF polling 3 votes in a 13 touches game) then I'm more inclined to think the decisions the AA selectors made were correct and fair in comparison.
I agree with your last sentence and that appears as to what has happened here. I guess we'll have to wait until next year's count to see if this is a recurring problem.
It just seems maybe there is a semantics issue here - if Neale wasn't selected as an inside mid for the AA team, then is he really the best midfielder in the game? Or are the AA selectors wrong for not including him?
I think that given there was some voting discrepancy across games (like JHF polling 3 votes in a 13 touches game) then I'm more inclined to think the decisions the AA selectors made were correct and fair in comparison.
I agree with your last sentence and that appears as to what has happened here. I guess we'll have to wait until next year's count to see if this is a recurring problem.
I didn’t see Neale as a major omission from the AA team (which I do think has become a better-selected team in the last perhaps 2-3 years), and thought he was quite lucky to win the Brownlow.
I actually posted earlier in this thread some info that indicated to me that he would poll well, but not win. I probably would have felt like a bit of a goose, except that the reaction from a wide range of football watchers seems consistent with the idea that Neale was a bit fortunate. The shockers from the umpires in a number of matches also raise some questions about the quality(/integrity?) of the voting system more broadly.
I quite like Neale and don’t feel like he’s an unworthy dual Brownlow winner per se, it’s just that this didn’t seem to be a year where he would win that second medal. If someone was going to get a little lucky, I’m happy enough that it’s him.