Is Nat Fyfe three times better than the rest of the players in the AFL?
The Age
Do armchair experts agree? Or is the landslide result in last night's highly regarded, exclusively player-voted award, rough on the runner-up – North big man Todd Goldstein?
The ruckman is widely regarded as the competition's leading big man this season after a dominant season for North in which he heads the comp in hitouts.
And don't forget Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield. Season-long commentary about where the Crow will play in 2016 has not hampered his performance here and now. But despite being widely tipped to challenge Fyfe in the Brownlow.
Fyfe is just the third player in the award's history to win the Leigh Matthews trophy back-to-back.
AFL finals: Ross Lyon challenges Zac Clarke to perform on the big stage
The Australian
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has issued a challenge to back-up ruckman Zac Clarke to perform on the big stage, starting with Friday week’s preliminary final in Perth.
Lyon said the club was looking for “payback” from the big man in his seventh senior season. Saturday’s goal against the Swans was his first in seven appearances in the finals.
Clarke, who has been out of favour for most of the second half of the season, got his chance against Sydney in last week’s qualifying final win over Sydney and performed moderately with 11 hitouts, eight possessions and his 46th goal in 88 games.
Nat Fyfe crowned AFL MVP, Isaac Heeney best first year player and Robert Murphy best captain
HeraldSun
NAT Fyfe has joined champions Gary Ablett and Michael Voss as the only players to be crowned the AFL’s MVP in consecutive seasons.
The brilliant Fremantle midfielder and hot Brownlow favourite raked in 1455 votes in a landslide count to take over from Ablett’s stranglehold on the Leigh Matthews Trophy.
Ablett saluted five times from 2007-13 while Voss shared the 2002 award with Luke Darcy and won outright the next season.
Fyfe polled nearly 1000 more votes than North Melbourne’s runner-up Todd Goldstein with superstar Adelaide free agent Patrick Dangerfield placing third in football’s only award voted on by the players.
Never mind the goals,we know how to win
The West Australian
Fremantle forward Chris Mayne says his club’s defence is the key to toppling the competition’s highest-scoring teams, declaring that the Dockers are finding a way to win despite doubts about their ability to kick big scores.
The three highest-scoring teams stand between the Dockers and their first premiership.
They will play the winner of Hawthorn and Adelaide in a preliminary final, with West Coast a big chance to be their opponents in a grand final if they progress.
The Dockers topped the 100-point mark five times in their first eight games, but have hit the milestone only once since — in round 22 against Melbourne.
Mayne, who will play his 150th game in the preliminary final, said the Dockers would continue to pursue their own style.
Fyfe misses Freo training
The West Australian
Fremantle star Nathan Fyfe did not join teammates for training at Fremantle Oval this morning, but did appear at the change room doorway looking comfortable.
Ten members of the Fremantle team that beat Sydney in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying final did a solid running session on the oval in front of about 100 fans.
Zac Clarke, Michael Barlow, Matt De Boer, Chris Mayne, Stephen Hill, Tom Sheridan, Tendai Mzungu, Garrick Ibbotson, Zac Dawson and Clancee Pearce did the session.
