‘We’re going to end up with a Steven Bradbury winner’: Should the Rising Star criteria change?

This week on the Real Footy podcast, Jake Niall, Caroline Wilson and Sam McClure debate whether “fairness” should be considered when judging the Rising Star award.

With Eagles sensation Harley Reid and young Bulldogs star Sam Darcy both ruled out of contention for this year’s award due to suspension, the criteria has become a topic for debate, and Wilson and Niall held opposite views.

While Wilson believed the award should follow the Brownlow Medal in terms of player eligibility, Niall disagreed.

“This is about the best young player in the game in that year, by a certain set of criteria,” he said, arguing the voting system was different – overall instead of week to week.

“We’re going to end up with a Steven Bradbury winner, is what we’re going to have here. We’re going to have a guy who’s left standing. And who knows, one of the others [might be suspended too].”

He also argued that players are getting suspended for a rapidly expanding range of acts that aren’t necessarily based on intent – and that may also be a factor in the Brownlow Medal.

Also this week, the panel looks at the Demons and their “second-rate” performance against Fremantle on Sunday. Is this a loss so out of the ordinary that you can simply write it off, or is there a deeper problem at Melbourne? Do they have an over-reliance on Max Gawn and Christian Petracca?

Holding the ball was a hot topic again this round after the AFL tweaked the interpretation of the rule last week. Is the risk now that players are discouraged from taking possession of the ball?