Walter - this is not just sour grapes this is pure vinegar. A disgraceful and ridiculous commentary. This idiot should hang his head in shame. By any measure Palmer won this award fair and square. He doesn't deserve this sort of cr*p from morons.

What stands out for me with Palmer was his willingness to back into contests and take hits.

with the amount of ball fired into the Hawks forward line this year any numbnuts could have kicked 20 goals.

I would suggest that bitter dipstick had a couple of hundred on rioli to win.

I'm just chuffed I placed $10 on him for the win back in round 3...

Huge Tank.
Courage.
Ball Winner.

Good Attitude.

Absolutely rapt he got the chocolates.


Bad luck Cyril, another fine player.

Great year by Rhys

clearly the rightful winner of the award

Brownlow next!!

Congrats to Rhys and also to Ibbo Payne and all the other young guys.
Dare I say a future captain in the making?
Walter whoever came up with those comments need to waken up.
A good example as to how wrong they are.... if even I was to get a game for Man UTD or the likes, the other great players can make me look good, whereas if I were to get a game for a non league side I would look as hopeless as I really am.
As for Anderson, well we all know how clever he is....... Barf

Theres definately a case of sour grapes in Victoria. All the talk has been about Rioli winning and Rhys would be runner up. In one case, one member of the media stated "Rioli would be considered unlucky not to win and is a clear favorite" Obviously Rhys averaging 23 possessions a game doesn't count for much.
Yes Rioli kicked a couple of freak goals, Yes he played well in several games, but clearly Rhys stood out in nearly every game we played. So much so he was getting tagged mid season which obviously showed the concern some opposing teams had of him.
Maybe Rioli was stiff, but really, could anyone ever see Rhys not winning? I would even go as far as to say a better 1st up season than Haze's???

just read most of the comments what a pile of knobs

I remember the first time I saw him play, after 10 minutes on the field, a Geelong runner sprinted straight up to Ling and he moved from Peter Bell onto Palmer. Now that is a massive nod of respect to a kid in his first season.

He still had a blinder with Ling hot on his heels all day.

How awesome can Rhys be?

It's stupid and plain wrong. Anyone that has played team sport knows that when you are surrounded by good players and a winning culture you rise to the level of the team and the opposite is just as true.
Rioli is a brilliant player and would have won in some other years but Rhys Palmer is just an unbelievable talent and almost singlehandedly kept Freo competitive all year. I've never seen a better first year. Selwood is perhaps more skillful and Rioli is certainly more gifted but for sheer influence from an 18 year old in the big time, I"m still shaking my head at how good he is.

Perhaps the knockers should look at the footage from the Collingwood match. There was a passage of play where the ball was kicked into Freo's forward half. Palmer crashed the pack at centre half forward trying to take the mark and fell heavily. The ball spilled free, was collected by Hinkley (I think) and booted back into the forward line where, on the right forward flank, a player charged out, crashed the pack and took a strong mark. That player was Palmer. Less than 20 seconds had passed from the first contest. The guy's got an unbelievable tank and willingness to contest. I doubt you'd see Rioli or Cotchin make the consistent hard efforts that Palmer does. Roll on '09.

Rioli wasn't even goal per game. What sort of a forward is that?