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There was a deja vu moment at the W awards on Monday night when Ash Riddell – who clinched an extraordinary record-breaking 45 disposals during round eight – polled zero votes from the umpires.
Months earlier at the Brownlow Medal count, St Kilda superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera missed out on three votes during a round 20 game against Melbourne where he propelled his side to the greatest three-quarter time comeback in VFL/AFL history.
Ash Riddell had another standout season for the dominant Kangaroos.Credit: AFL Photos
Riddell still managed to take home the league’s best-and-fairest award, but did she have a moment to chat to Wanganeen-Milera about being subbed in arguably one of her best games?
“Not, not at all,” Riddell laughed during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s all swings and roundabouts. There were certainly some games I probably didn’t deserve the three and then got it.”
“All the rounds I thought I didn’t poll in, I polled in,” she continued. “Then the rounds I thought I would poll in, I got nothing.
“We’ve probably known from previous years, when Jas Garner’s been the hot favourite and hasn’t polled according to plan, that these sorts of things happen.
“It’s a good laugh, we take the mickey out of it. Obviously, we have a grand final on the weekend, that’s the No.1 priority. We take it with a grain of salt and have a laugh.”
Garner, although universally regarded as one of the dominant players in the competition over many seasons, has long been overlooked by the umpires, but the North captain finished equal fifth on Monday night.
“I think she’s an absolute superstar, the best player in the comp,” Riddell said of Garner.
“I know I’m biased, running alongside her every week, but hopefully she’ll get a chance to hold one of these up at some stage because she’s had a stellar career.”
During the count on Monday night, North coach Darren Crocker told Fox Footy he was surprised at some of the voting.
“It’s very close, there’s probably been a couple left out, which I thought we may have got, but we didn’t quite get the votes we thought we were going to, but anyway, that’s vote count,” he said.
Kangaroos star Emma Kearny joked her teammate Riddell needed to be “flashier” to get noticed by the umpires.
“I’ll teach her my ways,” she joked. “I’ll teach you [Riddell] how to run and carry with the ball, and maybe you’ll get noticed a little bit more from the umpires.”
The Kangaroos will face the Brisbane Lions in the AFLW grand final at Ikon Park on Saturday night, as North seek to claim their second straight premiership and grow their unbeaten run to 27 games.
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