Melbourne’s now-retired veteran Nathan Jones and injured Bulldog Josh Bruce. Should they get premiership medals?
There is no greater moment in an AFL footballer’s career than when he ascends the post-grand final dais to receive his premiership medallion.
Approximately 800 players begin the season in pursuit of one of those coveted, shiny, gold objects, and only 23 end up with one draped around their necks.
This weekend, 23 Demons or 23 Bulldogs will have their names added to the very exclusive premiership club (in some cases, potentially for a second or third time).
In fact, the vast majority of players to have pulled on a boot in the 125-year history of the VFL/AFL have been denied the ultimate team success.
All-time champions of the game such as Bob Skilton, Kevin Murray, Tony Lockett and Gary Ablett senior would finish their careers without a flag, while relatively obscure players such as Aaron Keating, Shannon Motlop, Richard Hadley and Clay Sampson would realise every boy’s dream.
That’s what adds to the mystique, the value, the maddening elusiveness and the beautiful randomness of the premiership medallion. There are no guarantees about which players will receive one, no matter how good they are, and the footy gods have no qualms elevating the most unassuming men to the pantheon of sporting immortality.
The most obvious modern-day example of a champion player being tormented by a never-ending quest for a premiership is Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield, who has played in no fewer than six preliminary finals, yet has only featured in one grand final, and it didn’t end well for him or the Cats in 2020.
However, there seems to be a growing push recently for every player on the premiership side’s list to receive a medal, just like their teammates who participated in the successful grand final.
Many have cited that in American sporting leagues like the NBA, every staff member, not just every player of the championship ball club, receives a ring.
But aren’t we already too much like America? What happened to the calls for the AFL to stop copying everything American sport does?
If ever there was an issue to push back the Americanisation on, this would be it.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the sentiment from the people who are in favour of players outside the 23 on grand final day also being presented with medals, but it’s a terrible idea.
The AFL is a unique sporting body with its own traditions and its own way of doing things, and that’s how it should stay.
Of course, your heart breaks for Melbourne duo Nathan Jones and Adam Tomlinson, as well as Bulldogs pair Josh Bruce and Toby McLean, who will cruelly miss out on playing in a premiership on Saturday if their respective sides are triumphant.
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But heartbreak is an unfortunate aspect of grand final week, which adds to the rich history and mythology of the sport’s most important game, and those players will unfortunately share the same fate as Richmond’s Jack Graham in 2019, West Coast’s Nic Naitanui and Brad Sheppard in 2018, Bulldogs skipper Bob Murphy in 2016 and Adelaide star Tony Modra in 1997 just to name a few.
Should they all get retrospective premiership medals along with the thousands of other players throughout history who couldn’t make it to the grand final due to injury or form? This has whiskers all over it.
And I’m quite certain players like Essendon’s Derek Kickett, who was dropped for the 1993 grand final after playing in every other game that season, would tell the AFL where to go if they tried to deliver him a premiership medal. It’s fair to say that medal would suffer the same fate as Collingwood ruckman Peter Moore’s runner-up medal in 1981 – tossed aside like a piece of garbage.
In fact, I would be quite confident that the vast majority of players who missed out on selection on grand final day would view the receipt of a medal as tokenistic, hollow and patronising.
Not only would it foster the cringeworthy “everyone’s a winner/participation award” culture that seems to be all the rage these days in junior sports, but it would also make the title “premiership player” blurry. For instance, would Jack Higgins now be considered a two-time Richmond premiership player? Pandora’s Box would be flung open.
And what about suspended players? Would they get medals too under the suggested proposal? What a ridiculous situation that would be. Imagine Andrew Gaff was handed one in 2018 after breaking Fremantle youngster Andrew Brayshaw’s face with a brutal punch. It would’ve been wildly inappropriate.
Gaff rightly suffered the same fate as the likes of Jason McCartney (in 1999), Peter Schwab (1989) and Bernie Evans (1987) – watching his teammates achieve the ultimate glory while being left to ponder his actions on the sidelines without the recognition of a medal.
Victorious West Coast coach Adam Simpson consoles the suspended Andrew Gaff after the 2018 grand final.
If clubs feel the need to recognise their entire playing list at the conclusion of a premiership year, at the best-and-fairest night for instance, then that’s their prerogative. But even then, I suspect most players who missed out on grand final selection would feel fairly uncomfortable in that spotlight.
At the post-grand final celebrations in 2000 at Rod Laver Arena, members of Essendon’s newly-minted premiership team tried to drag Mark McVeigh out to the front of the stage with them to be recognised by the adoring fans, but he forcefully pushed his teammates away and preferred to stay in the background, reluctant to be considered a part of the side that delivered the club its 16th flag.
And it’s understandable sentiment.
Besides, how much more value and emotion would be added to a premiership medallion for Bruce or Tomlinson should they be lucky enough to be part of a flag-winning side in the future? That’s what it’s all about. They’re hard to attain, but when you do win one, you’re filled the ultimate sense of accomplishment. It’s hard-earned, not just handed to you as an afterthought.
Nathan Jones, one of the prime examples used by those who want the qualification for a premiership medal revised, summed it up best on Tuesday.
“I don’t adhere to the view that the entire list should (get a medal),” he told SEN. “It is a ruthless game and there are hard luck stories every year, but ultimately it’s about the 23 players on grand final day. I would like it to stay the way it is.”
Couldn’t have said it any better, Nathan.
Thanks for a well-balanced assessment of two awful choices: “maddening” and “beautiful” describe the dilemma so well. It’s not adding anything to what you’ve said, but you can also throw in the players who’ve been injured early in the GF without influencing the game and players who get a medal as unused (or barely-used) subs. Is there a minimum bar for “earning” a medal?
We all know that the Bob Murphys and Nathan Joneses should receive something, at the least for influencing their teams into the GF – but what?
One small thought about the problem is that, after 100+ years and decades of behavioural science studies, clubs still haven’t found an alternative form of recognition that physically represents the “band of brothers” creed that’s supposed to be the lifetime emotional reward for playing. I believe that Richmond’s decision to award life memberships to premiership players was generous but it made things worse by declaring “all we can think of is that some brothers need to be more brothery than the others”. Nobody seems to have reached a height of insight and imagination to create a recognition that carries such a club-wide emotional punch that everybody in the club wants to have it and everybody outside wants to copy it.
(This is just a corny what-if to toss around the difference between market value and emotional value, but imagine getting one of those badge-making machines and putting together a nice quality photo badge of each player In the premiership squad. OK, now imagine that each badge was made and presented by one of the club’s oldest living ex-players. Or by members of the last premiership team. Or by your parent or child. It doesn’t match a premiership medal – but what emotional value would you put on receiving one?)
The NFL / NBA rings may be Americanisms but at least they’re team-centred. The League allows them to be awarded but the League only hands over the winners’ trophy. The team itself organises the rings, presents them and puts their own value into them (I’m not sure how the NRL rings work).
Club-specific rings or medals might not be a perfect answer in the AFL, but let’s not make it the League’s responsibility. Where’s the club thinking that we can create something special of our own that’s more than just a bauble for the playing squad?
Disagree. Receiving a medal doesn’t make you a premiership player. You won’t ever be able to make that claim (for that year). A medal gives proper recognition to your contribution. We do that in all areas of life already. It doesn’t devalue what those who played on the day did. They will always be the ones listed as the 22 (or 23 this year). They will always be the ones celebrating the anniversaries.
Tradition is a nonsense argument. “Hey, we’ve traditionally put players thru the mental wringer – look at how we messed up Derek Kickett – so we’ve got to keep doing that, it’s tradition!”
Aron Baynes got an Olympic bronze medal even tho he was out injured for the bronze medal match. Did he only deserve that because that’s the tradition for basketball at the Olympics? Sure, he’ll always have the disappointment of missing that game, and never feel truly a part of winning the bronze. But I bet my nuts he wouldn’t give it back, or feels unworthy.
I also bet, if our tradition was the other way around, people would riot if we suggested medals only for players on the day. So, tradition is nonsense.