Liam Picken is the unlikely hero of the Western Bulldogs’ finals campaign and also the unlikely leader of The Roar’s AFL Finals MVP award at this early stage.
Picken has come alive in September footy booting five goals across two matches and is the only player in our count to have picked up votes in both weeks.
A best-on-ground showing against the Eagles last week, combined with a single vote this week, has him at the head of the leaderboard with four in total.
Joel Selwood, Stephen Coniglio, Marcus Bontempelli and Josh P Kennedy all have three votes behind him and are live in the race for the title. Brodie Smith also has three votes but, after the Crows’ season ended on Saturday, is out of the running.
Bontempelli and Kennedy as mentioned both have three votes to their names thanks to best-on-ground performances this weekend.
The other players to receive votes were Clay Smith with two for the Dogs, and Tom Papley and Lance Franklin with two and one respectively against the Crows.
Smith played a vital role in the Bulldogs’ upset win over the Hawks, and his performance was made all the sweeter because of the difficult times he has endured with injury on the way there.
Papley and Franklin each booted four goals in the Swans’ win over the Crows, which put to an end a streak of four straight losses in finals dating back to the 2014 decider.
Who will come up with the votes on the weekend to come? Geelong vs Sydney and GWS vs the Bulldogs both loom as thrilling matches.
For now, see the votes from this week below, and click here for last week’s votes.
Hawthorn Hawks 84 defeated by Western Bulldogs 107
Blogged by TomC
3 – Marcus Bontempelli
2 – Clay Smith
1 – Liam Picken
Sydney Swans 118 defeated Adelaide Crows 82
Blogged by Sam Walker
3 – Josh P Kennedy
2 – Tom Papley
1 – Lance Franklin
mattyb
Guest
Perfect comment PD. Personally I did notice Macrae but was astounded when I saw the volume of his possessions,especially in the third. Personally I think Macrae was probably our biggest injury during the season outside Murphy. Not just for what he does football wise but he's work rate is so high it allows others to play more suitable roles. Anyone forced to play Jacks role firstly can't do it as well but we then miss them playing there own role. He is in many ways irreplaceable,a very underrated footballer.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
I must admit Tom, I was at the game and didn't realise Macrae got so many possessions until I checked the stats on my phone. Bontempelli, Smith and Picken were more noticeable with their impact. That's the thing about Macrae though, he performs exceptionally well most weeks but doesn't get noticed. He has averaged above 25 possessions per game for the past 3 years (his 2nd, 3rd and 4th season) with an impressive midfielder's Disposal Efficiency of above 70%. He's not as damaging as Bont, Caleb or Libber and he's not as manic as Dahlhaus or Hunter, but he runs hard, uses the ball well and keeps providing a link in our passages of play.
mattyb
Guest
Tom,no objections here regarding Smith. You gave Macrae a mention and your reasoning made perfect sense,I've seen many others include Smith in their votes also. My comment was in regards to how close our votes have been including their exact positions. Having watched the dogs finals I definitely agree Picken has been the best performer over the two games.
TomC
Roar Guru
Cheers Matty. Blogging is done for me this season though. I was definitely the odd one out on Macrae - every assessment I read bar my own had him among the top three players on the ground, but I honestly thought Bontempelli, Smith and Picken had more impact. That's footy, I guess. Out of the four teams that have played two finals, in my opinion Picken has genuinely been the best performer, so it makes sense to me at least that he's currently leading the pack, albeit narrowly.
mattyb
Guest
Picken really is having a superb finals series. I'm not surprised,he's one of those underrated unassuming type players who tends to play well in finals. He's also a player who has the ability to reinvent his game or step into a role required every season. Interestingly Tom gave the exact same votes I would have given against WC and against Hawthorn the only difference was I had Macrae getting the two rather than Smith. Reason I find it interesting is I thought the games were difficult to vote on,except for Bontempelli against the Hawks. Keep up the good work Tom.