Jack Wighton - GH fans v Dally M

[Bay53]

As most here would know, there is the GH Fans Choice Player of the year award presented each year. I have been fortunate enough to present it on a few occasions, often as part of GH live.

As I understand it, votes are cast on the GH or on the GH facebook page and votes are tallied up so it becomes a 3-2-1 each week. Obviously under that system, these votes are only for Raiders players.

Jack got 15 votes in that award this year. He tied with Papalli, Whitehead and George Williams. Conversely in the Dally Ms points are given 3-2-1 but of course are awarded to both teams, so when we lose, often we don't get any votes.

Jack also tied for the Meninga Medal (the Raiders official player of the year award) with Papalli but unfortunately the Raiders never seem to release the Round by Round scoring. Over the years, the Meninga Medal has generally been very close to the GH fans choice.

It is fascinating to compare Round by Round where Jack got votes in the Dally M compared to the GH award.

Round 1 v Titans - Dally M 3 / GH 3
Round 5 v Tigers - Dally M 3 / GH 3
Round 9 v Storm - Dally M 1 / GH 1 (this was the only game we lost and he got points - Papenhuizen and Smith got the 3 and 2)
Round 10 v Roosters - Dally M 3 / GH 0 - he was 4th Choice in the GH award
Round 11 v Rabbitohs - Dally M 3 / GH 0 - he was 8th choice in the GH award
Round 14 v Broncos - Dally M 1 / GH 0 - he was 10th choice in the GH award (CNK and Tapine got the 3 and 2 in the Dally M)
Round 15 v Titans - Dally M 3 / GH 3
Round 16 v Bulldogs - Dally M 3 / GH 3
Round 18 v Dragons - Dally M 3 / GH 2 (Young got the 3 in the GH award)
Round 19 v Warriors - Dally M 3 / GH 0 - he was 6th choice in the GH award

Make what you will of this, but in 3 games the Dally M judges voted Jacko as best on ground but we as a fans group didn't rate him in the top 3 Raiders players.

[afgtnk]

I was actually just about to post this in the other thread. Going through our votes for the entire season, I found it interesting doing a comparison between both he and George.

Against top 8 opponents this season, George grabbed 13 of his 20 points. Jack managed just four from his 18 (three of them against the Sharks in finals week one).

Of those points given against top 8 opponents, 8 were against the two grand finalists for George, as opposed to one for Jack.

Although of course these awards like the Dally M are based on the premise that each game has the exact same weighting, the ideal reality should be that points in games against high ranked opponents should be given more weight in order to better judge a player's performance and ability throughout a season. Being the best against the Broncos at home isn't quite the same as being the best against the Panthers away.

For a guy who's now probably regarded as our 'franchise' player, I would have been hoping for a bit better return against the top teams this season. The very best players earn their huge salary by giving their best performances against the best, rather than beating up on weaker teams.

[NoMan]

Dally M judges don't like props and love high profile spine players.

[Matt]

Raiders fans watch the Raiders closer than the experts apparently.
Most of them can only recognise him and Papa anyway

[Seiffert82]

A cursory glance at the Dally M winners list indicates defence doesn't feature too heavily in the judging. It's largely a popularity contest.

In this case I think the profile he earned last season went a long way to getting him more noticed this season. Not sharing points with Hodgson clearly helped his cause.

[gangrenous]

I’m shocked how few points Papalii got actually. For the level he played at and he’s arguably a bigger name than Jack.

[Northern Raider]

Dally M judges don't like props and love high profile spine players.

Very true. Reputation plays a big part too. The GH voting takes each game on it's merits. Far more accurate reflection of performance over the season.

In this instance though I'm happy with the Dally M system flaws.

[BJ]

Raiders fans will give points to a good game from a Sutton, Whitehead, Hudson Young or Lui for example.

Dally M judges consistently focus very heavily on the name players.

A few lesser names had stand out games this season and we gave them three points but they didn’t even register a Dally M point.

[rayden83]

The Dally M’s are a bit of a joke IMO. I’m certain there is a bias towards backs and halves, also big name popular players who’ve played rep footy.
I can’t imagine the Dally M judges wasting votes by giving 3 to Hudson Young when they’ve probably never heard of him.

IMO they should overhaul the system, and have more judges scoring points to mitigate bias and incompetence.

[pacman]

Very interesting indeed. The flaws in the dally m were quite known but this just really highlights it well.

Happy for Jack but there is no way I can say he had a better season than Papalii in terms of consistency. I'll be completely honest and say there is no way I can say he had a better season than Cleary either (fully acknowledging Penrith had far more points than Canberra). But as others have mentioned, in a team full of low profile players, he wins the popularity contest.

Would be interesting to see if other teams show similar patterns in dally m vs fan voting or if Jacky boi was just at the right club to get it.

[gerg]

It's been a farce for years. I'm hoping it is an area Vlad and Abdo fix up. The old RLW format, same as GEs is the best way to go. Every single player gets a rating every game. Maybe a panel of three judges and then they average the scores for the three? How the judges are nominated is critical because you can't have plonkers like Rothfield, or some former players who can't put aside their bias.

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[Turt]

Each coach should give a 3/2/1 to the opposing team.
That would make it interesting