Former Carlton coach and Norm Smith Medal panellist Michael Voss explained that Brisbane star Will Ashcroft wasn't part of his voting for the first three quarters of Saturday's AFL Grand Final.
The AFL landscape has been sent into a frenzy after Shai Bolton was awarded the Norm Smith Medal ahead of Ashcroft.
Voss gave Bolton the three votes; Hayden Young received the two, and Ashcroft joined the trio with a solitary vote.
Bolton ended with 10 votes from the voters, pipping Ashcroft (six), Dayne Zorko (six), Caleb Serong (four), Young (three) and Charlie Cameron (one).
“I think it was really important coming into the voting to come with a little bit of a process,” Voss said on AFL Trade Radio.
“My process at the end of every quarter, I just took a really simple 5,4,3,2,1 (vote) on every quarter.
“Rather than getting blinded by a result or the emotion of a result, I felt like if I had some evidence based in behind me, then if I needed to make any quick changes, I could make them on the fly.”
The young Lion put the team on his back when the club trailed by 17 points with just over four minutes to go.
When Hells Bells rang for 'Wharfie Time' with the margin close to beyond doubt, Ashcroft collected six disposals, four clearances and two goal assists to deliver Brisbane its second three-peat this century.
“He wasn't in my voting at the very least … I hadn't had him in the top five of any other quarter,” Voss said.
“For me it was just a matter of processes; he deserved it, unbelievable four minutes, put the game on his boot as well as Logan Morris and also Lachie Neale … but I still landed where I landed.
“My battle was either a Bolton, who ended up winning it, a Serong or a Young had to come out of that three, so which one was it going to be?
“So, Young came out of that, and I put Will Ashcroft in as the one.
“So that's how I ran it. I don't know whether that's right or wrong; I don't think anyone has the perfect system to it.
“I felt that was the best way to do it and remove the emotion, remove outcome and come to the right result.”
Voss wasn't the only one to snub Ashcroft in the voting. Shaun Burgoyne (Zorko, Bolton, Young) and Andrew McLeod (Zorko, Young, Bolton) didn't see the Brisbane on-baller as one of the best three players on the field.
Chris Judd (Bolton, Ashcroft, Cameron)awarded the Lion two votes, while Herald Sun journalist Lauren Wood (Ashcroft, Serong, Bolton) was the only one who backed Ashcroft for his third Norm Smith Medal.
In stark contrast to the Norm Smith Medal panellists' votes, coaches Justin Longmuir and Chris Fagan gave Ashcroft the nod in the Gary Ayres award.
The father-son Lion collected 13.5 votes, slightly ahead of Serong on 12. Luke Jackson and Josh Dunkley received six votes, before Bolton popped up with 4.5 (due to the Grand Final weighting.
