Nineteen rounds in, and Murphy leads the award with 79 votes from Judd on 70 - remembering that the competing coaches each lodge their votes on a 5,4,3,2,1 basis per game.
So what do the coaches look for in casting judgment?
“We know the roles of our own individuals, but on the other hand we also know what headaches opposition players can cause,” Carlton Coach Brett Ratten said.
“Sometimes it might be a player who has tagged someone or a player who has had significant influence in a game who changes your view. Ultimately, it’s a question of whose player had the greater influence - ours or theirs - and it’s a pretty good system.”
Ratten said that his weekly casting of votes for best players afield in the award were normally based on his own assessments, and sometimes in consultation with the match committee. But not always.
As he said: “It’s normally pretty clear to me which player or players were the most influential on the day, and by the time you have to cast your votes at 3pm Monday you’ve already watched the tape as well”.
Ratten believed that both the coaches award and indeed the umpires’ award, ie the Brownlow, complemented eachother, and the players held both in high regard.
So why did he believe “Murph” was one best-on-ground to the good from the dual Brownlow Medallist?
“Maybe Murphy’s influence in the game has worried opposition teams. Perhaps they’ve kept Judd under control and not Murphy, and ‘Murph’s’ caused more headaches on the day,” Ratten said.
“It’s tremendous to have two of your blokes in the top two, but the gap in the voting is quite minimal not only between Murph and Judd, but also Sam Mitchell and Scott Pendlebury.”
When asked if he believed the Coaches Award reflected the Brownlow system in that it’s a midfielder’s award, Ratten said: “I think that’s a fair call”
“It would be an interesting exercise on a different level to ask the coaches to name a best 22, to see whether they’d first pitch for a ruckman over a running midfielder or a full-back over a full-forward or a centre half-back over a centre half-forward. That would provoke interesting debate.”
So who would “Ratts” take?
“The two at the top of the leader board,” came the swift reply.
AFLCA Champion Player of the Year votes
Round 19, North Melbourne versus Carlton
9 Simpson (Carl), 7 Scotland (Carl), 6 Gibbs (Carl), 6 Swallow (NM), 2 Yarran (Carl).
Leaderboard after 19 rounds
79 Marc Murphy (Carlton)
70 Chris Judd (Carlton)
69 Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)
69 Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
66 Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
66 Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
63 Daniel Wells (North Melbourne)
60 Dean Cox (West Coast)
58 Ryan O’Keefe (Sydney)
57 Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle)
