Sport’s all about testing yourself against the best. So, with that in mind, we’ve decided to start a friendly little competition to show a little bit of recognition to the best of our Roar of the Crowd contributors.
Each month, our editorial staff will vote on the article we think was the best on our site. We’ll also aim to extend this to a slightly grander scale at the end of the year, awarding a Roarer for the ‘Roar of the Crowd of the Year.’
But that’s still a few months away so, for the time being, it’s time to give out the award for article of the month for October.
And the winner is…
There’s list management, and then there’s selling your soul by Roar Pro Marty Gleeson.
Congrats Marty – we’ve published your most recent article in our expert column and you’ll be on the voting panel for next month’s award, should you choose.
Marty narrowly edged out Stuart McLennan’s nice piece about rugby league in Greece, It’s all Greek to Georgie: Steve Georgallis and a rugby league weekend in Rhodes, by just two votes.
Also in contention for the award was an AFL piece from Maddy Friend, Port Adelaide in a footballing no-man’s land, Alex Wood’s extensive look at Michael Cheika as Wallabies coach, Michael Cheika – not the coach we want, but the coach we need, and Tim Holt’s perspective on Nathan Lyon’s spot in Australia’s Test side, How should Nathan Lyon fit into a ‘horses for courses’ selection strategy?.
The articles were voted on by the editorial staff here at The Roar – Managing Editor Patrick Effeney, Video Manager Ryman White, BJ Conkey and Daniel Jeffrey. Each of us picked three articles using a 3-2-1 voting format. A first-placed vote was worth three points, second-place was worth two, and third-place the solitary point.
You can see how each of us voted at the bottom of the page, but the end result looked something like this:
| Article | Vote 1 (3 points) | Vote 2 (2 points) | Vote 3 (1 point) | Total |
| There’s list management, and then there’s selling your soul | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
| It’s all Greek to Georgie: Steve Georgallis and a rugby league weekend in Rhodes | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| Port Adelaide in a footballing no-man’s land | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Michael Cheika – not the coach we want, but the coach we need | 1 | 2 | ||
| How should Nathan Lyon fit into a ‘horses for courses’ selection strategy? | 1 | 1 |
For those who haven’t read it (and you absolutely should), Marty’s article looked at the controversial decision by the Hawthorn Hawks in shipping off one of their most decorated and iconic players, Sam Mitchell, in the interests of regenerating their list for the future.
So, thanks to everyone who submitted an article to The Roar in October, and be sure to keep an eye out for the winner of November’s article of the month award.
How we voted:
Paddy
1. There’s list management, and then there’s selling your soul
2. Michael Cheika – not the coach we want, but the coach we need
3. It’s all Greek to Georgie: Steve Georgallis and a rugby league weekend in Rhodes
Ryman
1. There’s list management, and then there’s selling your soul
2. Port Adelaide in a footballing no-man’s land
3. It’s all Greek to Georgie: Steve Georgallis and a rugby league weekend in Rhodes
BJ
1. It’s all Greek to Georgie: Steve Georgallis and a rugby league weekend in Rhodes
2. There’s list management, and then there’s selling your soul
3. How should Nathan Lyon fit into a ‘horses for courses’ selection strategy?
Daniel
1. It’s all Greek to Georgie: Steve Georgallis and a rugby league weekend in Rhodes
2. There’s list management, and then there’s selling your soul
3. Port Adelaide in a footballing no-man’s land
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Time to update the profile picture skip!
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Great Stuff Marty, congrats and great initiative Paddy and the team!!!!!
Marty Gleason
Roar Guru
Thank you everyone!
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Well done to not just everyone nominated here but all the Roarers who take the time to write pieces and enhance this great site.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
It's hard enough to write an interesting and engaging comment. Kudos Marty!
Zac Zavos
Editor
Conks - you won the original Roar of the Crowd writer's competition with this piece in 2008; now for more guys to open their careers with The Roar.
Riordan Lee
Editor
Congratulations to everyone! Great to see a couple of the belters I read this month get a nod (Maddy's and Alex's) and now I can go back and have a read of the one's I missed - how good.
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
Congratulations Marty and well done everyone who made the cut. Was tough to select a favourite from so many wonderful articles. Like Brett, I too had recognition from The Roar back when I was at university in a similar competition. It really is a fantastic community to get your articles out there to an audience you know will appreciate your work..even if they don't agree with you!
Brett McKay
Expert
Well done Marty, and congrats to all the shortlistees - it was recognition like this that got me started on The Roar and in the sports media in general!
peeeko
Roar Guru
Congrats to all include the crowd writers. great to see the articles rewarded were those with interesting content rather than click bait
Daniel Jeffrey
Editor
Yep congrats to Marty on his article - although, as Paddy has said, there was no shortage of quality across the board. Well done all!
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Good work just to get on the shortlist Tim. It's a hell of a task putting it together.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Well done to all, particularly the victor Marty. And a call out to all who show the courage to contribute to ROAR with their articles why the site is so respected and vibrant Thank you also for my call out on here :) Great idea in implementing this as well
Will Sinclair
Roar Guru
This is a great idea - congratulations to everyone mentioned. It's harder than people think to conceive and write an interesting and engaging article. Well done.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Well done Marty! A worthy winner among the 600-odd other Roar of the Crowd articles published this month. Hell of an effort to beat what I thought were excellent pieces by the rest of the nominated folks here.