Adelaide’s Pat Wilson and Glenelg’s Luke Partington among favourites for Magarey Medal
The Magarey Medal has been dominated by midfielders and dual winner Joel Cross predicts an onballer will claim the award again on Monday night. See who he has tipped for this year’s medal and vote in our poll.
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DUAL Magarey Medallist Joel Cross has predicted a race between gun onballers Pat Wilson and Luke Partington for the Magarey Medal when votes are counted at Adelaide Oval on Monday night.
The South Adelaide champion said the pair had been consistent and their teams had won enough games to attract plenty of votes.
Wilson has had another outstanding season and been the spark in the Adelaide engine room, amassing big numbers, while Partington has been brilliant in his debut year with minor premier Glenelg.
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“Pat has been building for a long time and probably deserves a Magarey after a significant career in the SANFL,” Cross said.
“Partington has been enormous for the Bays. It’s hard to assess because you don’t get to watch many of the games until the week you play them.
“From all reports, Luke has been a great get for them coming off the West Coast list. West Coast must have had an enormous amount of talent last year if it can cut Luke and Malcolm Karpany and still win the premiership.
“Malcolm has probably been the best recruit we have had coming off an AFL list.”
The league’s most prestigious individual award has been dominated by midfielders, winning the past 14. Norwood gun Mitch Grigg has won the past two medals.
The most recent winner who did not spend most of game time on the ball was former Central District captain and Crows state league assistant coach Paul Thomas in 2004.
Port Adelaide midfielder Jack Trengove is tipped to poll plenty of votes, but he missed games with injury and that could hurt his chances.
Cross shared the 2012 Magarey Medal with Bulldogs star Brad Symes, before adding the 2015 Medal to his lengthy resume.
The veteran does not believe the Panthers won enough games to enable him to claim a third win.
“We did not win enough games to be in the finals, so I probably won’t pull many votes,” Cross said.
Cross, recruited from Scoresby in Victoria, is to extend his stint at the Panthers into a 10th season after confirming he would be with the club again next season.
While he had yet to sign a contract for 2020, Cross said he was still driven by the desire to win that elusive flag for the Panthers.
“I love the game, love playing,” Cross said. “To win a flag with South would be the ultimate and I could walk away from the game as happy as I possibly could.”