Football legends' grand final heroics nominated
THERE are as many twists and turns off the football field as there are on it.
Take this week's nominations for the AFL's History's Best.
The opening categories for the AFL's fan-vote competition feature the best grand final marks and goals, and one-time Essendon team-mates Derek Kickett and Michael Long are among them.
Kickett and Long are perhaps best remembered for the 1993 AFL Grand Final; Long for his Norm Smtih Medal-winning best-on-ground performance, and Kickett for his exclusion from it.
By 1990, Kickett was emerging as a serious player. After a brief stint with North Melbourne he was nabbed by Essendon and enjoyed a four-season stay at Windy Hill.
In the '90 grand final, famously won by Collingwood, Kickett and Long, much like their team-mates, weren't too prominent. There were a few brawls in that game, just how the 'Pies would have liked it, you suspect, and neither Long nor Kickett took a backward step.
At one point in the game, Kickett found himself in prime position to use his cat-like spring and he duly launched himself on Collingwood skipper Tony Shaw's shoulders to take a brilliant mark just outside the 50m arc. It was a textbook speccy with that instinct and impulse that characterises this unique feature of our game.
Three years later, the gifted dreadlocked one is controversially dropped for the big game but Long remains and he turns on the afterburners to produce a baulking, four-bounce, team-lifting goal from a spearing kick that dissects two on-rushing Carlton defenders and somehow avoids lunging Blues full-back Stephen Silvagni, who maintains to this day he touched it on the line.
* To vote for Kickett's mark, click
here, and to vote for Long's goal, click
here.
Franklin wins nomination
LANCE FRANKLIN's nominated goal of the year in the qualifying final against Western Bulldogs has won the vote and a place among the finalists.
The imposing forward's goal is the fifth Indigenous player's to win that category's vote this season, and the 24th overall nominated in 2008.
There were no Indigenous players nominated for either award this week.
2008 Mark of the Year nominations (* denotes winning vote):
Round 4: Paddy Ryder (Essendon) *
Round 5: Mark Williams (Hawthorn)
Round 7: Daniel Motlop (Port Adelaide)
Round 7: Jeff Farmer (Fremantle)
Round 8: Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne)
Round 8: Michael O'Loughlin (Sydney)
Round 12: Aaron Davey (Melbourne)
Round 13: Paddy Ryder (Essendon) *
Round 15: Michael O'Loughlin (Sydney) *
Round 16: Daniel Motlop (Port Adelaide)
Round 17: Cyril Rioli (Hawthorn) *
Round 19: Cyril Rioli (Hawthorn)
2008 Goal of the Year nominations (* denotes winning vote):
Round 1: Alwyn Davey (Essendon)
Round 1: Leon Davis (Collingwood)
Round 2: Eddie Betts (Carlton) *
Round 2: Lance Franklin (Hawthorn)
Round 3: Andrew Lovett (Essendon), and
Round 3: Andrew Lovett (Essendon)
Round 4: Richard Tambling (Richmond)
Round 5: David Wirrpanda (West Coast)
Round 5: Daniel Motlop (Port Adelaide)
Round 6: Cyril Rioli (Hawthorn) *
Round 6: Andrew McLeod (Adelaide)
Round 7: Aaron Davey (Melbourne) *
Round 7: Daniel Motlop (Port Adelaide)
Round 8: Leon Davis (Collingwood)
Round 8: Daniel Motlop (Port Adelaide)
Round 10: Daniel Motlop (Port Adelaide) *
Round 14: Mathew Stokes (Geelong) *
Round 15: Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne)
Round 15: Eddie Betts (Carlton)
Round 19: Leon Davis (Collingwood)
Round 22: Leon Davis (Collingwood) *
Round 22: Cyril Rioli (Hawthorn)
Round 22: Marlon Motlop (Port Adelaide)
Finals, Week 1: Lance Franklin (Hawthorn) *
DARREN MONCRIEFF
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Last Modified on 18/09/2008 11:39