Captain calls for Brownlow overhaul amid scandal

2 years ago 67

Brisbane Lions skipper Dayne Zorko has called for Brownlow Medal voting to beryllium stripped from umpires and handed to "an adept panel".

The Brisbane seasoned made the plea aft an AFL umpire was arrested for allegedly leaking Brownlow Medal votes from 2022 matches.

Field umpire Michael Pell was connected Monday 1 of 4 men arrested amid allegations of suspicious betting.

The AFL's apical idiosyncratic honour was won by Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps successful 2022, but the governing assemblage believes the breach did not impact the count.

"I don't cognize however the accusation gets retired oregon who oregon what is involved, but it's not a large look," Zorko said connected SEN Queensland.

"Leave it up to an adept sheet to decide, don't permission it up to the umpires, and instrumentality that work disconnected them.

"It utilized to beryllium conscionable 1 umpire and they'd marque their telephone aft the game. Now there's 3 (field umpires) and adjacent twelvemonth there's going to beryllium 4 by the sounds of things."

Zorko not lone pointed to an contented with trustworthiness, but the workload of tract umpires.

"(Umpires effort to watch) everything that goes connected with the game, regularisation changes, decisions successful the moment, and they're each successful antithetic thirds of the ground, truthful you're not really seeing who is the astir influential the full time, successful my opinion," Zorko said.

"I hold — I'd springiness it (Brownlow voting) to idiosyncratic who has been watching the crippled and sitting up precocious (at the stadium) and understands what's happened passim the full crippled and determine from there."

The incumbent voting strategy sees 3 tract umpires collaborate successful a backstage room, awarding votes successful a 3-2-1 method aft each game.

The names are recorded connected a signifier which is placed successful an envelope with a tamper-proof seal, earlier that envelope is enactment successful a integrative container with different tamper-proof seal.

The container is delivered to the AFL and sent to an Armaguard centre, with the envelope not being opened until the nighttime of the Brownlow function.

The seriousness of the process hits location erstwhile cameras seizure Armaguard unit arriving astatine the Brownlow relation with the votes locked up.

Cripps seizes 2022 Brownlow Medal

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews backed the integrity of the Brownlow Medal.

"It's important that we let processes that are genuinely connected ft by regulators and so perchance by Victoria Police and others to tally their course," Andrews said.

"There's thing served by my commenting connected that, I don't think. But I'd beryllium assured with each the conversations I've ever had with Gil and with others.

"They instrumentality integrity precise seriously. And they privation to safeguard our game, and they privation to safeguard what is specified an important portion of our Victorian culture, what is simply a truly large pastime and a truly important portion of Victorian life.

"They privation to safeguard that. That's ever been of interest. I wouldn't uncertainty their committedness to achieving that."

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