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In a national competition in which ten out of the eighteen clubs are based in the same state, it is inevitable that the majority of media scrutiny will be on Victoria – regardless of whether it should be or not.
For example, instead of paying attention to the collapse of the Suns in the second half of the season, we find Victorian strugglers such as the Demons and Pies receiving a disproportionate amount of attention.
If we cast our minds back to the midpoint of the season, the Suns seemed to be better placed than Melbourne and Collingwood, but the interstate club that has seen such a severe drop off in form is given a reprieve from the harsh media glare in favour of placing the blowtorch squarely on the underperforming Victorian teams.
One could certainly be forgiven for forgetting that the AFL does indeed exist outside of Victoria, such is the way that the competition is covered at times.
The Melbourne footy media fishbowl phenomenon definitely has a strong presence, and it was even enough to encourage Lance Franklin to seek greener and supposedly quieter pastures in Sydney.
Or so he says, anyway. For $10 million you could convince me to go anywhere, but I digress.
A byproduct of this Melbourne footy media fishbowl phenomenon is that a number of fantastic players who happen to ply their trade interstate are often overlooked in favour of their counterparts in Victoria and simply do not get the love they deserve.
This needs to end, so here are just some of the interstate stars that the casual Victorian fan can no longer ignore.
Eric Mackenzie (West Coast) and Daniel Talia (Adelaide)
It is only fitting that Mackenzie and Talia are named together here, as they are likely to be named together again in the key defensive posts of the 2014 All Australian team. In recent years, they have both taken over the task of containing the number one forward each week from their more well known predecessors, Darren Glass and Ben Rutten, without missing a beat.
The Eagles allowed the seventh fewest points this season with Mackenzie leading the charge down back, averaging 7.9 one percenters per game, good for seventh in the league.
After winning the Rising Star Award in 2012, it seems at times as if Talia has been completely forgotten by mainstream footy media. He doesn’t win many possessions but has kept star forwards such as Tom Hawkins, Travis Cloke, Jeremy Cameron, Jarryd Roughead and the Riewoldts to one goal or less this season. With such an impressive list of victims it’s time to give him his due credit.
Tom Rockliff (Brisbane)
Rockliff has a higher disposal per game average than Gary Ablett, Scott Pendlebury and Jobe Watson in 2014, yet is never mentioned in the same breath as these guys purely because he’s out of the spotlight in Brisbane.
It’s hard to believe that the leading disposal winner (32.7 per game) and tackler (9.1 per game) in the league can fly so far under the radar, but he has somehow managed to escape media attention for so long and is only now starting to receive plaudits for his work.
He has put together a scintillating run that has seen him average 41.4 possessions per game in his last five games.
Only problem is, he did this last year too, averaging 27.4 disposals per game on his way to an equal-fifth place finish in the Brownlow. The footy media was late to the party, but with the Brownlow field so open this year, Rockliff could have been the most anonymous winner in recent memory, if he hadn’t been suspended earlier in the year.
Lewis Taylor (Brisbane)
He should win the Rising Star Award, but he won’t due to the fact that he has spent his first season toiling in relative obscurity for the Lions. Taylor has by far been the most consistent first year player, as he has played every game and ranks sixth among first year players in average disposals in addition to kicking the fifth most goals of all first year players.
Matthew Lobbe (Port Adelaide)
Is there a player more crucial to his team’s premiership chances than the Power ruckman? As the only uninjured member of Port’s depleted ruck stocks, Lobbe’s form will dictate how far they go in 2014.
Lobbe ranks seventh in the competition for average hitouts per game, better than more fancied rucks such as Paddy Ryder, Ivan Maric and Ben McEvoy. He also ranks first among recognised ruckmen and tenth overall in average tackles per game.
Although he was never going to maintain his blistering early season form while dealing with the fatigue that comes with singlehandedly carrying the Power’s ruck division, Lobbe has still outperformed the vast majority of ruckmen this season.
Adam Treloar (GWS)
Trawling through the league’s leading average disposal winners usually provides something of a ‘who’s who’ list in the AFL. Until you get to tenth place that is, where Treloar finds himself even with Jobe Watson ahead of big name players such as Stevie J and Trent Cotchin.
Fair effort for a third year player who represents a club that has been a running punchline for the entirety of its existence. As his teammates develop and the Giants become increasingly relevant, Treloar will undoubtedly become a media darling, as he will receive overdue recognition for continuing the form that he has displayed this season.
Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle)
Player A: 281 games, 619 goals, Rising Star Award winner, four-time All Australian, five-time Best and Fairest, three-time leading goalkicker, one time AFLPA MVP, nine years as club captain.
Player B: 311 games, 625 goals, six-time All Australian, six-time Best and Fairest, eight-time leading goalkicker, eight years as club captain.
Player A is Nick Riewoldt, Player B is Matthew Pavlich. It’s hard to believe that Pavlich could possibly be considered underrated, but he is not typically seen in the same light as Nick Riewoldt.
As the aforementioned stats show, Pav’s resume stacks up with the very best of his contemporaries, so it is time to treat him as such.
If Pav played for a Victorian powerhouse such as Collingwood, Carlton or Hawthorn, he would be viewed as the transcendent player that he is, but the fact that he has spent his career out of sight in the West with a club that took too long to establish itself will likely end up harming his reputation.
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