I’m once again pissed off at the AFL media but bare with me, this is a positive vent.
Nat Fyfe winning the 2015 AFL Brownlow Medal is a wonderful story that made an undeniably dry and flaccid, Monday night TV event worthwhile.
So why am I annoyed?
The incessant blasts of the foregone conclusion forced my to resist it, to push back against it.
Together with the rampant over-simplification of achievement, the down-playing of talent and the trivialisation of unrelenting hard work gets old and frustrated me no end.
Furthermore, I hate that I let it get to me.
Fyfe is obviously a player we should all love, a man we can all respect and a role model we can be happy our children have such public access to. A skinny kid from country WA who has tonight cemented how good his on field supremacy really was this season.
So I’m not angry that he won like I once predicted I would be, instead I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t enjoy the ride. Like a kid walking around Disneyland filming everything on his phone, I regret that I forgot to have my own fun.
I know Nat himself, the wider AFL media community and most of you reading this don’t give a shit what I think, however I believe some of you might share my sentiment. Or at least know where I’m coming from.
Congratulations to a worthy winner and a thanks for some lasting memories of what an elite modern day footballer represents.
As hoped it was a great Q&A with Bruce on stage and a super acceptance speech too.
“I decided I needed to be stronger and fitter to deal with taggers and make the most of Aaron Sandilands hitouts,” explained Fyfe after be named the winner.
I wonder what the Lake Grace native will decide he needs in 2016, probably a healthy body and a few more games as he aims to add the Dockers’ first flag to his immortal standing as Fremantle’s first ever Brownlow medalist.
Thankfully, as it turns out, I’m not nearly as peeved about this as I thought I would be back in May. I’m loving it, despite the saturated footy media coverage trying to spoil it for me and so many others.