Along with the multiplication of the footy media has come a proliferation of awards, some more meaningful than others.

HOLIDAYS, weddings, bar mitzvahs … they are all delayed until October for one simple reason: nothing happens in September except football finals.
There is no doubt that when people think of September, they think first of the AFL finals.
There is, however, another aspect of football that doesn’t involve the finals which is becoming an important part of the football landscape. September is now not only Finals season but Awards season.
Every year more and more awards seem to be on offer for players.
There are the usual Goal and Mark of the Year awards and the standard media awards on offer.
It seems every radio, newspaper and television station has its version of Most Valuable Player.
Prizes range from money to televisions to holidays to cars, to nothing but the prestige (such as at INSIDE FOOTBALL).
By my reckoning, there are at least a dozen MVP awards on offer.
If a player has a good season and picks up some awards, he can supplement his income extremely nicely.
What most people don’t realise is that all of these prizes are taxable and if you win a $30,000 car you can expect a tax bill for almost 15 grand to follow. Still, a half price car is not to be sneezed at.
With all of these awards on offer, which is actually the best one to win?
In my mind none of the media awards make it into the top three. Not for any other reason than they are voted on by media and past players who at times display a level of bias.
I’m not saying that this is endemic and that the awards go to the wrong people – if you win a media award then you have played well, this cannot be denied – but we are human and we have favourites that may inflate our views on certain aspects of the game or certain players’ influence.
The big three in my opinion are not voted by the media at all. They are the AFLPA MVP, The Coaches Association MVP, and of course the Brownlow Medal.
The AFLPA award is voted by the players. This must add credence to the award.
As we often hear from actors when they take home a statue, that there is nothing better than to be “recognised by your peers”.
It’s true, there really is no greater compliment than to have the people you play against say you are a great player.
Unfortunately this award is tainted by a voting system that puts limits on who players can vote for. 
As I understand it, each team nominates a couple of players for a voting short list.
From this short list, players then vote for who they believe is most valuable.
One problem occurs when you realise that you are prevented from voting for a player from your team.
You can understand why this is done. Every player would vote for their teammates and we would have a 16-way tie for the winner.
But what about if you firmly believe that your teammate was by far and away the best player for that year?
I had just this scenario with Robert Harvey one year. I knew he was the best but couldn’t vote for him.
I resorted to voting for a guy I thought had no chance of winning. Why give a vote to Harves’ competition?
The other alternative was to not vote at all. Unfortunately these voting anomalies taint the award in my mind. Having said that, it is very difficult to knock the players who have won the award. All are champions of the game.
The other award that makes up the big three is the Coaches Award. After each game the coaches sit down to determine their top five players on the ground. Both coaching panels give votes and these two scores are added together. If both coaches give the same person BOG then he gets a total of 10 votes.
This system has a lot of plusses. Mainly for the fact that players receive votes for doing things that the media and the public don’t necessarily notice.
Things like shutting down another player, being a great defender, or turning a game with a one-quarter effort.
Coaches often note and reward things other than mere possessions, which we tend to get hung up on.
That’s why there are often some surprises in the club best and fairest awards.
The player who wins is not always the highest possession winner or the man who kicks the most goals.
The award lacks the profile of the others and without a big “night of nights” it tends to fly under the radar. Perhaps over time it will gain the recognition it deserves.
But until it does the grand daddy of all the awards to win is still old Charlie. The Brownlow Medal, despite having the worst voting system, is still the biggest individual award in the AFL.
Having umpires vote on the best player is without doubt the worst system. They have a hard enough job without worrying about which player is beating his opponent and who is doing the best shut-down job.
That’s why in recent times it has turned into a midfielder’s award. The guys who get the ball the most will naturally feature in the umpires’ minds.
Defenders may as well just turn up for a free meal on Brownlow night and forwards really only go for the grog.
The Brownlow is still No.1 purely because of the tradition associated with it. I don’t have an issue with this. Tradition is important and we must make sure that all the other awards don’t water it down.
As for my tip in a couple of weeks, young Gary may just do what his old man failed to do.   

NATHAN BURKE