Adelaide Crows’ Rory Sloane huge Brownlow Medal chance, says Mark Ricciuto

ADELAIDE midfielder — and crowd favourite — Rory Sloane is a huge chance to win this year’s Brownlow Medal, says Mark Ricciuto. And the AFL coaches seem to agree.

Rory Sloane breaks away from Leigh Montagna of the Saints. Mark Ricciuto says Sloane could walk away with this year’s Brownlow Medal. Picture: Daniel Kalisz (Getty Images)

RORY Sloane is a huge chance to win this year’s Brownlow Medal.

He is also a big chance to “quinella it” (finish first and second) with his old teammate Patrick Dangerfield.

How exciting would that be if Sloaney came from behind and reeled in the short-price favourite in Danger and knocked him off?

That would put a smile on a few people’s faces. But there is a long way to go — in fact seven games — so there are still a lot of votes to be won and lost.

But right now, depending on what market or guide you look at, he is a serious chance.

With bookmaker UBET, Sloane is equal second favourite behind Dangerfield.

With Champion Data is he well down the list in equal 10th place with less than half the votes of Danger. But Champion Data is largely based on statistics and Rory’s influence is quite often more valuable than raw stats.

His two-way running and the pressure he applies on the opposition is as good as anyone’s in the game. He doesn’t need 30-plus disposals to be in the votes.

But one place in which everything is taken into consideration before votes are given is the AFL Coaches Award, which is voted on by both head coaches after each game on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.

At this stage Sloane is leading that award and — with no disrespect to other awards — I think the coaches know more than most in football.

But in even better news for Sloaney, his supporters or anyone who has had a little flutter on him is that he is getting better as the season goes on.

The Crows have a good run home “on paper” with all seven games very winnable and only two against top eight sides.

A good result would be for the Crows to win six out of seven and if they do that they will equal their most wins in a home and away season with 17, the same tally as 2005 and 2012.

Players from winning teams get more votes, so he could be better placed than anyone in the competition to come home with a wet sail.

Another point in his favour is that other than Scott Thompson, who is a proved poller, Sloane doesn’t have teammates who will steal his votes, unlike Danger with Joel Selwood.

Sloaney himself is a proven vote getter with 15 votes in 2013, the year he won the Crows’ best and fairest. He also polled 11 in 2012 and 10 in 2014.

On the down side, Sloane could also be well placed to start getting more attention from opposition coaches now that he is seriously influencing games.

Sloaney had a slowish start to the season and only really got going around Round 4 and since then has not really been tagged heavily. In some games he has actually done the tagging. But tagging or running with players is starting to come back into fashion with some coaches; don’t be surprised if the target soon is Rory.

So why is Rory having such a good season? I can think of several reasons.

For starters he hasn’t been injured like last year when he fractured his cheekbone twice. Secondly he is engaged and getting married to his long-term partner Belinda.

Being happy on the home front is always a good thing.

At 26 he is also heading into the best few years of his career from an age, experience and physical point of view.

There is no doubt that with Danger leaving he would have felt the responsibility to step up to cover that loss. He has done that brilliantly and has now become the Crows’ most valuable midfielder.

With Danger leaving he is also playing more time in the centre square, which gives him more opportunity to influence the game.

Sloaney would also be getting very keen for team success. He has only had a limited taste of September football, with only five finals from his 133 games.

The older you get the hungrier you get for team success, which also drives you to perform better.

What’s more, the tragic events of last year would have put things into perspective and reminded him about how short your time is in the game and to make the most of it.

Sloane’s individual form aside, I think the fact that the team is performing as well as it is helps him. It’s easier to play well when your teammates are and at the moment the Crows are very even.

I know Sloaney is not tallying up is votes or getting his suit ready for the red carpet.

I also know there is a very long way to go both for the team and for Rory.

But if he was lucky enough to take home “Charlie” I couldn’t think of a better bloke to win it.

BROWNLOW BETTING

UBET odds

Patrick Dangerfield (Cats) $2.35

Rory Sloane (Crows) $9

Joel Selwood (Cats) $9

Dustin Martin (Tigers) $9

Dan Hannebery (Swans) $9

Luke Parker (Swans) $15

Marcus Bontempelli (Dogs) $17

Champion Data predictions

Patrick Dangerfield (Cats) 25 votes

Dan Hannebery (Swans) 19

Sam Mitchell (Hawks) 19

Joel Selwood (Cats) 16

Matt Priddis (Eagles) 15

Callan Ward (Giants) 14

Dustin Martin (Tigers) 14

Scott Pendlebury (Magpies) 14

Marcus Bontempelli (Dogs) 13

Rory Sloane (Crows) 12

AFL Coaches’ Award leaderboard

Rory Sloane (Crows) 76 votes

Patrick Dangerfield (Cats) 69

Dustin Martin (Tigers) 64

Joel Selwood (Cats) 64

Luke Shuey (Eagles) 63

Marcus Bontempelli (Dogs) 59

Dan Hannebery (Swans) 55

Todd Goldstein (Kangaroos) 51

Luke Parker (Swans) 51

Jack Steven (Saints) 51

Originally published as Adelaide Crows’ Rory Sloane huge Brownlow Medal chance, says Mark Ricciuto