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The respected footy figure admits Ashcroft ‘deserved it’, but almost didn’t even consider him.
The September specialist finished equal second in the voting alongside Dayne Zorko on six votes, but well short of Fremantle dynamo Shai Bolton, who became the fifth player in history to win the medal in a losing side, with 10 votes.
Voss — who coached the Lions for five years after his playing career, and was sacked by Carlton this year after a second stint at the helm of a club — was one of five judges trusted with voting for the award. AFL greats Andrew McLeod, Shaun Burgoyne, Chris Judd and respected journalist Lauren Wood were the other voters. He explained the process he used to award his votes on Tuesday.
“For me, I think it was really important coming into the voting to come up with a process,” Voss told Trade Radio. “And so, my process, at the end of every quarter, I just took a really simple 5-4-3-2-1 on every quarter. That’s what I did.
Add 7NEWS as your preferred news source on Google “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 some quick changes I could obviously make them on the fly because, let’s face it, it was my own voting system, so I could do whatever I like.
“But then there were a couple other factors that clearly you come into the game , and that is how you felt like the game went. “And if you take a step back for a second, I think you’d have to say that Fremantle, across the whole day, just looked better on the day, and they were beaten by a four-minute blitz.
“And so, when you look at the way the game was played and the players who were dominating key periods of the game, for me, it was Fremantle, and for me, it was the Fremantle midfield that was putting themselves in the position. “But it’s also the reason why they lost in that four-minute period of time. So, when you factor all that in, that’s what you’re trying to weigh up a little bit on the fly.
” Levi and Will Ashcroft celebrate their second premiership together, and Brisbane’s third straight. Voss said he allowed for some flexibility with his final decision, adding weight to Ashcroft’s final quarter — and final four minutes in particular, when he had five of the Lions’ 21 disposals — but it wasn’t enough to dislodged Botlon as his favoured winner.
“Certainly, when I handed my votes in at the end of the game, the flyer was clearly Will Ashcroft,” Voss went on. “He wasn’t in my voting at the very least; he hadn’t voted in any other quarter. I hadn’t had him in the top five in any other quarter.
“He rocketed to five and probably could’ve got 10 just on the last four minutes. But even with 10, he still didn’t get there .
“So for me, it was just a matter of process of saying, deserved it, unbelievable four minutes, put the game on his boot as well as Logan Morris and also Lachie Neale for that matter, I thought he was terrific in the last quarter, he obviously voted really high too. But I still landed where I landed.
“So my battle was: 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? And obviously Young came out of that and I put Will Ashcroft in as the one.
“And he came from nowhere — he wasn’t even in my voting at all until the last four minutes and 19 seconds, and then he came into consideration. “That’s how I ran it, I don’t know whether it’s right or wrong, I don’t think anyone has necessarily the perfect system to it, but I felt that was the best way to be able to remove emotion, remove outcome, and come to the right result.
”Voss said Bolton’s consistency across the four quarters is what got him over the line.
“Probably the difference in Shai, when I looked at his game, is that he voted in every quarter,” he said. “You’ve got to weigh that all up and then end up landing where you did. “I had Shai and the top of the pops, so I thought there’s no reason to change that based on his last quarter, I thought he was exceptional. Barring a couple of kicks inside 50, I thought he was a real game-changer for Fremantle.
”The then Brisbane captain dominated the second half of the last quarter 24 years ago against Collingwood, but the medal went to Magpies skipper Nathan Buckley in a losing side. At the time, votes had to be submitted just before the end of the game. After that, the AFL changed its process to ensure votes were not due until after the final siren.
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