Nick Daicos had the Brownlow Medal round his neck. Jeremy Cameron had one other Coleman and was heading in the direction of a ton of objectives.
Six weeks in the past, the duo have been unbackable favourites for the AFL’s prestigious particular person gongs.
Now, at halftime of the season, the challengers have arrived.
Daicos, Collingwood’s good 20-year-old playmaker in simply his second AFL season, is now not a shoo-in to change into the youngest Brownlow medallist since Chris Judd’s win as a 20-year-old in 2004.
And Cameron isn’t the outright chief for the Coleman – and the feat of changing into the primary participant to kick a century of objectives in a season since Lance Franklin in 2008 appears to be like distant.
Brownlow markets are shrinking round Daicos, who remains to be favoured by bookies to win the umpire-voted medal.
But Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters, together with famend vote-getters Christian Petracca, of Melbourne, and Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli, are on the transfer.
Butters, 22, entered the final spherical forward of Daicos within the AFL Coaches Association’s champion participant award.
“A tough, brave little p***k who takes big moments and turns them into something special,” his coach Ken Hinkley stated after Butters torched Melbourne in spherical 10.
Butters’ arrival as a Brownlow contender comes amid Petracca’s continued excellence for the Demons – some flagging him for 3 best-afield shows prior to now 5 video games.
Petracca is a confirmed umpire eye-catcher, polling 24 votes final 12 months, 23 in 2021, and 20 within the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Plus, his midfield mate Clayton Oliver, one other confirmed vote-puller, has missed the previous two video games by means of harm.
Also making strikes are perennial poller Lachie Neale from the Brisbane Lions, the Brownlow winner in 2020 and final 12 months’s runner-up, and roughies akin to Richmond recruit Tim Taranto and Essendon’s Zach Merrett.
Which all fits Daicos.
“The start of the year has been a little overwhelming for me … I don’t want all that attention,” Daicos stated not too long ago.
“I try to deflect it to the team because I genuinely feel like I’m not the player I am without them … I do get very uncomfortable with the spotlight.”
The Coleman race is vast open, after Cameron’s scorching begin to the season – 27 objectives after six rounds – has change into extra of a sluggish burn.
Geelong’s attacking ace, who received the Coleman in 2019 at GWS, now shares high billing with Carlton’s Charlie Curnow, final 12 months’s winner.
Both have booted 38 objectives, six greater than a chasing pack of Charlie Cameron, Oscar Allen, Tom Hawkins and Nick Larkey.
The AFL’s different main particular person award, the Rising Star, seems right down to a subject of two favourites: North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel and Brisbane’s Will Ashcroft.
They’re already nominated for the award open to gamers aged underneath 21 on January 1 this 12 months who had performed 10 or fewer video games earlier than the season began.
Sheezel (averaging 26.5 disposals a sport) and Ashcroft (22.8) are producing stellar debut seasons and bookies listing them properly forward of gamers akin to Gold Coast’s Bailey Humphrey, the Giants’ Finn Callaghan and St Kilda’s Mitch Owens.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
