And the 2008 Nick's BB Gavin Brown Medal goes to...

[David]

Another season has come to a close for the mighty pies, which means it's about time medals started getting handed out. Umpires, media, Player's association, Frank Stone... they all have a say, but in the end, only one medal counts - the Nick's BB Gavin Brown Medal!

Dane Swan was the inaugural winner in 2006, while Tarkyn Lockyer celebrated a fine 2007 with the prestigious (albeit somewhat imaginary) award. So, who won it this year?

Before I get underway, I just want to explain how the votes were compiled. After going through the weekly 'votes' thread, I tallied up how many votes each player received for each round, forming a 3-2-1 for each match. Despite the best efforts of some posters to introduce a 5 vote system in round 21, and other posters having a tendency to give their 2 votes to a Mr. 'Daylight', I battled my way through each thread and clambered out with the results.

By the way, it is only a bit more than 24 hours since our final mtch, so I understand that voting may not have finished - however, the only possible change I could really see is in who gets the 2 and 1 for that game, and suffice it to say neither player is in contention for a placing.

So, without further ado, here are the votes for each round:

R.1 v Fremantle
3. Anthony Rocca
2. Dane Swan
1. Heath Shaw

R.2 v Brisbane
3. Scott Burns
2. Alan Didak
1. Shane O'Bree

R.3 v Richmond
3. Paul Medhurst
2. Heath Shaw
1. Dale Thomas

R.4 v Carlton
3. Heath Shaw
2. Alan Didak
1. Rhyce Shaw

R.5 v Kangaroos
3. Paul Medhurst
2. Josh Fraser
1. Alan Didak

R.6 v Essendon
3. Paul Medhurst
2. Scott Pendlebury
1. Travis Cloke

R.7 v Hawthorn
3. Heath Shaw
2. Tarkyn Lockyer
1. Scott Pendlebury

R.8 v St. Kilda
3. Leon Davis
2. Scott Burns
1. Alan Didak

R.9 v Geelong
3. Marty Clarke
2. Alan Didak
1. Travis Cloke

R.10 v West Coast
3. Dane Swan
2. Alan Didak
1. Leon Davis

R.11 v Melbourne
3. Scott Burns
2. Alan Didak
1. Harry O’Brien

The leaderboard after round 11 read as follows:
Alan Didak 12
Paul Medhurst 9
Heath Shaw 9
Scott Burns 8
Dane Swan 5
Leon Davis 4
Martin Clarke 3
Scott Pendlebury 3
Anthony Rocca 3
Travis Cloke 2
Josh Fraser 2
Tarkyn Lockyer 2
Shane O'Bree 1
Harry O'Brien 1
Rhyce Shaw 1
Dale Thomas 1

Dids took the early lead with 12 votes, while Heath Shaw and Paul Medhurst were close behind with 9, Burns and Swan rounding out the top 5 with 8 and 5 votes respectively.

R.12 v Carlton
3. Rhyce Shaw
2. Paul Medhurst
1. Dane Swan

R.13 v Bulldogs
3. Heath Shaw
2. Ben Johnson
1. Scott Pendlebury

R.14 v Sydney
3. Dane Swan
2. Shane Wakelin
1. Travis Cloke

R.15 v Adelaide
3. Rhyce Shaw
2. Paul Medhurst
1. Martin Clarke

R.16 v Kangaroos
3. John Anthony
2. Scott Pendlebury
1. Scott Burns

R.17 v Essendon
3. Harry O’Brien
2. Travis Cloke
1. Paul Medhurst

R.18 v Hawthorn
3. Scott Pendlebury
2. Scott Burns
1. Martin Clarke

Although it was only a week, the time between R.18 and R.19 seemed more like a month. We lost 2 of our best players to an internal suspension, but turned our season around after three straight losses, and fielded a new-look side highlighted by the inclusion of Dawes and McCarthy. At this crucial turning point of the season, our leaderboard looked like this:

Paul Medhurst 14
Alan Didak 12
Heath Shaw 12
Scott Burns 11
Scott Pendlebury 9
Dane Swan 9
Rhyce Shaw 7
Marty Clarke 5
Travis Cloke 5
Leon Davis 4
Harry O’Brien 4
John Anthony 3
Anthony Rocca 3
Josh Fraser 2
Ben Johnson 2
Tarkyn Lockyer 2
Shane Wakelin 2
Shane O’Bree 1
Dale Thomas 1

The creators of the controversy, Heath Shaw and Alan Didak, shared second place, while Paul Medhurst sat in top place by 2 votes. Burns was 4th with 11 votes, while Pendlebury and Swan were tied for 5th with 9.

R.19 v St. Kilda
3. Dane Swan
2. Scott Burns
1. Josh Fraser

R.20 v Port
3. Leon Davis
2. Travis Cloke
1. Dane Swan

R.21 v Sydney
3. Leon Davis
2. Dane Swan
1. Travis Cloke

R.22 v Freo
3. Leon Davis
2. Shannon Cox
1. John Anthony

Qualifying Final v Adelaide
3. Dane Swan
2. Leon Davis
1. Paul Medhurst

Semi Final v St. Kilda
3. Dane Swan
2. Josh Fraser
1. Nick Maxwell

And that's that for the weekly votes. Here are the final placings:

1. Dane Swan 21
2. Leon Davis 15 (4 BOGs)
3. Paul Medhurst 15 (3 BOGs)
4. Scott Burns 13
5. Heath Shaw 12 (2 BOGs)
6. Alan Didak 12 (0 BOGs)
7. Scott Pendlebury 9
8. Travis Cloke 8
9. Rhyce Shaw 7
10. Marty Clarke 5 (1 BOG)
11. Josh Fraser 5 (0 BOGs)
12. John Anthony 4
Harry O’Brien 4
14. Anthony Rocca 3
15. Shannon Cox 2
Ben Johnson 2
Tarkyn Lockyer 2
Shane Wakelin 2
19. Nick Maxwell 1
Shane O’Bree 1
Dale Thomas 1


Congratulations to Dane Swan, who has won his second Gavin Brown Medal in just three years of voting, finishing first with 21 votes. Leon Davis and Paul Medhurst share 15 votes (with Davis finishing 2nd on countback, having been best on ground on one more occasion). Scott Burns finished 4th with 13, while Heath Shaw rounded out the top 5 with 12 votes (a total shared by Didak, with Shaw leading on countback as above).

It's been a lot of fun again to count all this up, and I must say we picked a very worthy winner in Swanny. Although we have no actual medal to show for this award, I think it should be considered an important one - for, this is the consensus of the fans, from the biggest AFL club fan site on the internet. It's we who watch the games week in, week out, and, despite all our differences in opinion, have one thing in common above all else: our love for this great football club, and the players who run out for us every week.

Congratulations again Dane Swan, winner of the 2008 Nick's Bulletin Board Gavin Brown Medal.

[HAL]

I think the fans were the big winners.

[rambopriscilla]

Wow what a finish! Congratulations Swanny on getting home in a thriller. And you can stick the medal up the backsides of the Collingwood "supporters" who sat behind me at one game calling you Spiderpig because "He's as useless as a Spiderpig"

Well deserved with a terrific second half of the season.


And thanks David for the most excellent work compiling the votes.

[rambopriscilla]

[David]

I think BOG in both finals says a lot about the calibre of player Swan is. Just a shame they don't carry brownlow votes all the same, I won't be completely surprised if he upsets Franklin and Ablett and wins it anyway

edit: No worries rambo, it was a pleasure

[raymond35]

[HAL]

Are you a student?

[jack_spain]

Not surprised by this result at all. Our most consistent player this year. Well done Dane!

[Pied Piper]

Well done Dane Swan, and a champion effort by David in compiling and writing up the votes. How did you deal with all those posters who gave their 1 vote to "everyone else", or to multiple players?

I'm happy with the current system, but for what it's worth, when next season comes around we should run a poll on how best to do the medal next year - i.e. offer a choice between the status quo and the five best players rated out of 10, as suggested by some posters after round 21, or any other system anyone else can think of. Ah heck, I'll just try to remember to do it myself before round one 2009!

[Kingswood]

how good is our swanny

and still so young yay

what a champ

[John Wren]

[David]

lol, about 2 hours last night, after I'd compiled all the votes to R.11 a few weeks ago. Didn't take too long.

[3rd degree]

Well done to Swanny. As the co author of " DEFENDING DANE SWAN" I am forever proud , a big hello from Mark T who couldn't be here today as well.

[HAL]

Well that's okay. Sorry, I forgot what "what" was.

[Kingswood]