Pfffffttt. It’s all media hype and we don’t deserve any of it.
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YOU FARKING BEAUTY!
In which case nothing to see here. The last 7 must have given him perfect scores
He won it off the back of “Essendon Media Mafia” according to salty Hawthorn fans.
Could have used some of this “Media Mafia” during the supplements saga 
Hawthorn salt is the most delicious
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Tredders still salty that Hurls towelled him up in his first game, can’t bring himself to vote for a young Essendon player
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Awesome. I’m home, sore as fark, and efc are on the rise. Good day
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One year where Hawks aren’t competitive and their supporters go full retard.
DAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN BOUT.
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2017 NAB RISING STAR WINNER ANNOUNCED
The AFL has announced the winner of the 2017 NAB Rising Star.
Essendon’s Andrew McGrath won the award, becoming the Dons’ second ever winner, and first since Dyson Heppell in 2011.
McGrath finished on 51 votes.
Eric Hipwood finished fifth (six votes), Charlie Curnow finished fourth (27 votes), Sam Powell-Pepper finished third (33 votes) and Ryan Burton finished second (41 votes).
McGrath averaged 19.7 disposals at 82 percent efficiency, 14.1 uncontested possessions, 4.9 intercept possessions, 4.0 marks and 2.7 tackles this season.
He was the first overall selection in the 2016 national draft.
“I can’t put it into words to be honest,” McGrath told SEN about winning the Rising Star.
“From draft night, you gather your thoughts and then come day one of preseason, you’re thrown straight into it. I can’t really explain much more than that. It’s been an amazing year not only for me, but the Essendon football club as well.”
The Canadian native also revealed the sacrifices he made last year, as he was going through the draft process.
“It probably wasn’t until the nationals when I thought I could go pretty high in the draft,” he said.
“During term two and three at school, I’d have Tuesday and Thursday nights off and they’d be booked out for AFL clubs to come visit me and the family.”
McGrath will line up for the Bombers in next Saturday’s Elimination Final against Sydney, and he believes the club is ready for the big stage.
“I’m really excited for it,” he said.
“All the boys are really eager to get back into September footy. The vibe around the club is really good and we are ready for the challenge.
“I speak to Darcy Parish about it and he says it feels like a completely new club for the better. We have a great culture and to play alongside All-Australians is amazing. The experience I’ve gained with them has been unreal.”
McGrath also added he views himself as an “inside midfielder” in the long-term.
The media mafia claims are amazing.
all i head about for the last 3 weeks was ryan burton.
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Dons’ top draftee named Rising Star winner
ESSENDON’S top draft pick Andrew McGrath has won the four-way contest for the NAB AFL Rising Star award.
McGrath polled 51 votes to win the coveted award by 10 votes over Hawthorn’s Ryan Burton, who was the favourite.
Port Adelaide midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper was next on 35 and Carlton key forward Charlie Curnow polled 27.
Those four players dominated predications before Friday’s award lunch in Melbourne.
Fifth-placed Brisbane forward Eric Hipwood was well off the pace with six votes.
McGrath, the No.1 pick in last year’s draft, has excelled with 20 games in his debut season.
His standout performance was keeping Adelaide forward Eddie Betts goalless, despite the Crows having 62 inside 50s in their round-21 win over the Bombers.
McGrath has since moved up the ground to a wing and ultimately wants to become an inside midfielder.
He is Essendon’s second Rising Star winner after captain Dyson Heppell, who took it out in 2011.
Nine of the 11 judges gave McGrath the maximum five votes.
Burton led the Rising Star betting ahead of McGrath, but no judges gave the impressive Hawk five votes.
Powell-Pepper scored the other two nods for top votes.
McGrath, 19, averaged 20 disposals, four marks and 14 uncontested possessions this season.
He was nominated after round four, also for his performance against the Crows.
Born in Canada, McGrath was a top junior athlete at national level before he concentrated on an AFL career.
He co-captained Vic Metro in last year’s Australian under-18 championships and won All-Australian selection.
Among the Rising Star nominees, McGrath was ranked first for handballs, second for disposals and second for effective disposals.
This year’s voting panel is made up of Gillon McLachlan, Kevin Bartlett, Luke Darcy, Andrew Dillon, Danny Frawley, Glen Jakovich, Chris Johnson, Cameron Ling, Matthew Richardson, Warren Tredrea and AFL talent manager Kevin Sheehan.
Tredrea and Jakovich were the two judges who gave Powell-Pepper five votes.
Who the hell is Burton
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.
Earlier today Terry Wallace on SEN predicted Andy. He said that while the attacking stats for Burton were slightly better, its only half the story for a defender. Apparently Andy almost matched him on attacking stats, but was way ahead on the defensive stats which are not so readily available on the AFL web site and thus many proponents of Burton had based their opinion on an incomplete picture of their relative perfromances.
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I am shocked that Bartlett, Ling and McLachlan gave McGrath 5 votes.
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Exactly. He kept Betts goalless FFS FFS.
Not only that , he kept almost all of his opponents down to around 50% of their average performances. AKA he pantsed almost all of his opponents, and hurt them the other way.
It is nice to be hated by opposition supporters for onfield performance again i.e. gaining all-Australian selection, playing finals and the rising star. It makes a nice change.
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Please tell me where you are reading these salty Whorethorn comments so i can go bask.
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Some bloke that was drafted like 4 years ago.
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So stoked the kid won. Not because he’s ours. Not because of Smugthorn salt. But because somebody actually won an award for being a lockdown defender. Finally somebody was acknowledged for their impact in shutting down the best opponents week after week. What’s more is that it was a 1st year kid who pretty much made himself the best small defender in the comp in the process. I was pretty sure he’d go underrated and somewhat unheralded for his year and they’d choose the bloke with more kicks and potentially flashier game. But thankfully the selectors saw his year for what it was… that being the best debut year we’ve seen in a long long long time.
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