‘Hundreds and hundreds’: Ex-AFL coach proposes Brownlow Medal overhaul amid betting scandal

Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas believes a hand-picked panel of experts paid to attend AFL games and vote on the best players should be considered.

Thomas’ comments came amid the fallout from the Brownlow Medal betting scandal, which saw AFL umpire Michael Pell arrested along with three others, with a likely court date looming.

Having coached 123 games at St Kilda between 2001-2006, Thomas said an overhaul to the voting system was also ideal, replacing the 3-2-1 format to 5-4-3-2-1 in able to give players outside of the midfield more recognition.

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“This is no criticism of umpires. This is just that if the players don’t know (who the best players were), umpires don’t know either because their focus and concentration is so rigid towards applying the rules and the interpretation and the tough job they’ve got,” Thomas told the Herald Sun.

“How on earth can they differentiate, other than to grab the stats sheet at the end of the game and have a look and then give the votes?

“I just think that at this juncture – nothing to do with fraud, nothing to do with dishonesty and nothing to do with the accusations levelled at the current umpire, because that is always vulnerable and susceptible irrespective of what human being you get to do this role.

“But if we want certainty, if we want exclusivity and if we want purity to an award of our best player and our best players, I just think we need to be very clinical and forensic about the sort of criteria we apply to that.”

Thomas added there were “hundreds and hundreds of men and women” who would be able to deliver a more balanced count.

“Finding the type of people is very easy,” he told the Herald Sun.

“There might be some former coaches from a decade ago, there might be some former players, there might be some former administrators, it might be some people that are from other leagues or other levels that people have high regard for in their ability to understand football.

“No one who’s currently involved should be a part of it.”

Collingwood tall Mason Cox admitted on Tuesday he was “confused as to why umpires decide the Brownlow”.

“You would think someone watching the game would have a better idea the impact someone has than someone that should be busy adjudicating the game live.”

Brisbane veteran Dayne Zorko also backed changing the voting rules so umpires don’t make the call.

“I don’t know how the information gets out or who or what is involved, but it’s not a great look,” Zorko said on SEN.

“The social media stuff that I’ve been reading and sifting through is they’re saying this is another reason why umpires shouldn’t have to vote straight after the game. Leave it up to an expert panel to decide, don’t leave it up to the umpires and take that responsibility off them.

“I agree, I’d give it (Brownlow voting) to someone who has been watching the game and sitting up high and understands what’s happened throughout the whole game and decide from there.”