Re: 2011 PREmier Fighting Tiger Award - THE AWARDS
Welcome to the 2011 PREmier Fighting Tiger Awards Thread.
The opening of the 2011 season was greeted by guarded optimism by many Tiger fans as a number of promising signs occurred in the 2010 season. Although still considered by many to be a long shot for the finals and still considered to be in development mode, the Tigers were considered one of the teams expected to show improvement in 2011.
The season started with a competitive match against the more fancied Blues and although the Tigers looked like they might pinch the match at the 3 quarter time break, the Blues went on to record the victory. This promising start was followed by a clash against the 2010 runners up, St Kilda, at Etihad, which ended in a draw, a flogging by the Hawks and an eventual flogging by the reigning premiers Collingwood. (although the 3rd quarter in that match saw Richmond play some of their best footy for the season). The draw served Richmond a baptism of fire, playing 4 teams that would go on to play finals this season and the 0-1-3 start was not that surprising.
The Tigers got their first win in round 5 against the Kangaroos and by round 7 had recorded their 3rd. This streak was broken as the Tigers were torched by the Bulldogs who have become a bit of a bogey team for us in recent seasons. My personal highlight of the 2011 season came in round 9 in the Dreamtime at the ‘G match. The Tigers played some exciting footy and downed the media’s lovechild at the time Essendon. The crowd was massive and the atmosphere electric and for final’s starved Tiger fans it was a close to a finals-like match as we have experienced for some time.
By this stage the Tigers were 4-1-4 and a genuine contender, however round 10 saw the Tigers travel to Darwin where they were upset by the bottom of the ladder Port Adelaide side. The rot set in and the Tigers would only see one victory (against Brisbane) for the next 10 rounds. This mid-season slump led to the all too familiar feeling of seeing our finals chances extinguished and included a mortifying 100+ flogging by Carlton in our Fighting Tiger Fund match and the side go become the first Melbourne based team to lose to the fledgling Gold Coast Suns. It wasn’t until round 21 that we saw the Tigers spring back with a convincing upset of the finals-bound Swans, a win over the Dees in round 22 and the Tigers broke their decade long drought of victories against Adelaide in Adelaide in round 23. The season finished with a competitive match against the Roos that ended in a narrow loss to Richmond and saved us the embarrassment of another 9th placed finish.
Overall, the 2011 season certainly saw improvements in the team and the game plan, with Richmond applying a solid forward press for the first time. The 2012 season can’t come soon enough.
With the season wrap done, let’s get down to business. The 2011 PREmier Fighting Tiger Award saw 1283 ballots cast over the 22 matches. This is up by about 7.5% on the 1193 ballots cast in 2010. The regular trend observed in 2009 and 2010 wherein the average number of voters dropped off in the second half of the season continued in 2011.. In the first half of the 2011 season an average of 67.7 PREnders voted (up by ~10 voters per match on 2010), whereas in the second half this average dropped to 48.3 (down by ~2 voters per match on 2010). This clearly reflects the mid-season slump of 2011 and the slow start to the 2010 season combined with the PREnders tendency to vote more in winning matches. Breaking with tradition, wherein the most popular round is usually round 1 against Carlton, the most popular round in 2011 was the Dreamtime at the ‘G win against Essendon in round 9, where 87 ballots were cast. Ironically, the least number of voters (39) turned out for the Round 16 loss to Essendon in which the Tigers took a winning position and allowed the Bombers to kick the last 10 goals of the match to win comfortably.
As always I like to acknowledge those who voted in all 22 rounds of the season:
:clap
WesternTiger (3 years running)
jb03 (3 years running)
evo (2 years running)
Tigers of Old
LeeToRainesToRoach
YinnarTiger
MB78
Tigermad2005
GEDS1
rokin.tiger
:clap
Many thanks for your support.
Before we begin the countdown I will clarify some of the information that is provided for each Richmond player:
Total Votes The total number of votes accrued throughout the 2011 season (2010 also shown).
Rounds Played The number of games played in the 2011 season (2010 also shown).
Historic Position The players position in previous PRE Player of the Year polls (NOL = Not on List; DNP = Did Not Place)
Average Votes/Round Total votes accrued / total games played
Highest Ranking (Round(s)) The highest ranking achieved and the round(s) that ranking was held.
Best Round (Votes) The round in which the player obtained the highest number of votes, which opponent the Tigers played in that round and the number of votes obtained.
Normalised Score (Rank) A score that normalises the votes to take out the ‘number of voters’ factor. This scoring system prevents players obtaining votes in ‘popular’ weeks from gaining an advantage. This is not official and just for your information. Theoretical maximum score is 100 – a player that got 3 votes on every ballot would score 100.
Richmond ‘Brownlow’ Votes (Ranking) This is also unofficial and for your information. It consists of a 3-2-1 voting system each week. This ranking tends to benefit players who are consistently in the top 3 players of the week.
Most Votes From The PRE member(s) who supplied the player with the most votes and how many.
Can I ask that everyone refrain from replying to this post until the awards ceremony is complete
Now with the formalities out of the way, let the 2011 PREmier Fighting Tiger Awards Thread begin!