AFL moves Rising Star award to Brownlow Medal night
The AFL will hold their Rising Star award on the night of the Brownlow Medal count this year, in a move forced by the re-scheduling of the Gold Coast versus Essendon game.
The NAB-sponsored Rising Star award, which goes to the best young player, based on certain criteria, over a season, has been moved from the awards night, during the pre-finals bye, when the All-Australian team, AFL Players' Association's Most Valuable Player, and the AFL coaches award are announced in one fell swoop.
But the re-scheduling of Gold Coast's opening round clash with Essendon, postponed due to the cyclone that struck Queensland in March, has prompted the AFL to move the Rising Star award from August 28 – the date of the awards night – to Brownlow Medal night, on the Monday evening of grand final week.
Given the length of the Brownlow Medal count, and the fact that other awards such as mark and goal of the year are handed out on the night, it is reasonable to expect that the Rising Star award will not occupy a large portion of the evening's broadcast.
Loading
The Rising Star has a player nominated for each round. The AFL reckoned that it would be logistically difficult to have the postponed Gold Coast v Essendon game played on mid-week of the bye round – likely on the Wednesday – and then have the Rising Star the next day, when there is a need for a player to be nominated and a match review officer's assessment.
The Rising Star is the award to the best-performed young player (21 and under and with less than 10 senior games entering the relevant season). Geelong's Ollie Dempsey took the award last year.
Recent winners include Collingwood's Nick Daicos, North Melbourne's Harry Sheezel, Fremantle's Luke Jackson and Caleb Serong, Carlton's Sam Walsh and past champions Nathan Buckley, Adam Goodes, Sam Mitchell, Nick Riewoldt, Joel Selwood and Ben Cousins.
The AFL informed the clubs of the change on Tuesday and confirmed it to this masthead on Wednesday morning. In effect, the Gold Coast v Essendon game is part of round 24, when it was originally slated to be played on the Gold Coast as part of opening round.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
16 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Vow to find cricket roof 'fix' at waterfront stadium
A highly experienced designer will help ensure cricket can be played under a roof at Tasmania's planned $945 million waterfront stadium. Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania have concerns the venue will be unable to host the sport unless mitigations can be found for shadows cast on the playing field. Construction of a 23,000-seat roofed stadium at the Macquarie Point site in Hobart is a condition of Tasmania's entry into the AFL in 2028. Premier Jeremy Rockliff and the two cricket governing bodies had signed a formal agreement pledging to work together to finalise a suitable stadium design. The current design includes a combination of timber and steel beams supporting a translucent roof. Renders have shown a cross-hatched shadow on the field. Mr Rockliff and the cricket bodies agree a roofed stadium presents a "world-leading" opportunity to host the sport under all conditions. The three parties had previously agreed to work to find a solution, but now have an agreement in writing. Discussions for the "resolution and optimisation" of the roof design will involve senior Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania representatives. There will also be support from a highly experienced expert in stadium design who will help to remove or mitigate the impact of shadows on the field and pitch. Developers behind the stadium in May said a "test rig" was being developed to help find a solution. The approval process for the stadium has been thrown into disarray by the calling of a snap state election for July 19. The Liberal government's plan to introduce fast-track legislation to parliament to green light the stadium has been pushed back indefinitely as a result of the poll. The Tasmania Devils AFL club, which recently signed several high-profile recruitment gurus, has warned the delays could put its licence at risk. The AFL and state Liberals, who inked the deal, have maintained "no stadium, no team". Both major parties back the stadium but minor parties and some independents who could hold balance-of-power positions post-election are opposed. Public hearings as part of a state planning commission assessment process, which pre-dated the fast-track legislation plan, started on Wednesday. Christopher Townshend KC, lawyer representing the state government, said the stadium design was bold and visionary. "We are being asked to … open our minds to a project that will bring change," he said.
News.com.au
26 minutes ago
- News.com.au
The logistics behind State of Origin in the AFL
State of Origin has once again risen as a point of discussion in the AFL with talks developing.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Carlton coach Michael Voss refuses to address growing noise around his future
Embattled Carlton coach Michael Voss is refusing to put energy into discussions and external comments around his future as heat on his position reaches boiling point. The Blues lost to North Melbourne by 11 points on Saturday, putting a huge dent in their finals hopes that effectively go on the line in Thursday's crunch clash with Port Adelaide. The defeat sparked mass commentary, with AFL great Lance Franklin calling for Carlton to move on from Voss and captain Patrick Cripps stopping for an impromptu media op to defend his coach. But Voss said he wasn't rushing to catch up on the daily news around his job security, and there had been no discussions with the club's bosses this week, including chief executive Brian Cook or the man most likely to replace him, Graham Wright. 'No, and it is sort of an unnecessary conversation right now other than being in complete communications with them at all time,' Voss said. 'That has been really valuable and having the leadership of those two guys and Rob (Priestley) as our president, they are outstanding leaders and they are only interested in alignment and in solving it together and the support I feel.' Voss said there was only one place he was directing his 'energy' and that was on Port, a game coming just five days after the loss to the Roos. 'I don't deal in hypotheticals like that, you can go for your life. As far as what we're concerned, we've come off a game what four days ago,' he said. 'As you can imagine, you tend to focus a lot of your energy on turning around what was a disappointing loss and turn that into something else. 'Obviously, jumped on a plane today and got a game tomorrow. As you can understand, we haven't drifted too far beyond that.' Voss said the Blues would make few tweaks this week after not reviewing last Saturday's poor loss in entirety. 'We probably had the focus on the most important things and that was probably more to do with recovery,' he said. 'We didn't have time to delve into the game in its entirety, it's sort of one of those weeks where you've got to move on pretty quick. 'We touched on the most important things and now we've got to be able to fix our eyes on Port. 'It was pretty obvious, clearly the contest part of the game and some drift moments in defence … we gave it a good throw at the end to have a crack at it, but the distance was far too much for us to peg it back.' Carlton will unveil two debutants this week, with Billy Wilson and Flynn Young confirmed to face Port Adelaide. Wilson, a medium defender, was taken by the Blues with pick 34 of the 2023 draft, while Young was taken in this year's mid-season draft. Young was a part of the all-conquering Werribee side that took out the VFL premiership last season and produced a haul of draftees since. '(Wilson is) a terrific young man, he's been working on his game really hard, so he's certainly earnt his opportunity,' Voss said. 'Flynn Young will also play his debut as well, to have our sixth, seventh debutant for the year, to have exposure for these young men to come in and get roles done. 'It's a credit to them, the work they've done, and also a real shout out to our development team. 'In the last four or five weeks we've seen a real acceleration in a lot of these young men's careers. They've got them AFL ready and now they're getting their opportunity.'
