All-Australian selector Kevin Bartlett says Jobe Watson cannot keep 2012 honour from AFL team of the year
ALL-Australian selector Kevin Bartlett is questioning how Essendon captain Jobe Watson is retaining his place in the 2012 AFL team of the year after being stripped of the Brownlow Medal.
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ALL-Australian selector Kevin Bartlett is questioning how Essendon captain Jobe Watson is retaining his place in the 2012 AFL team of the year after being stripped of the Brownlow Medal.
The AFL Commission has ruled Watson - the only Essendon player in the 2012 All-Australian team - can remain in the team of the year because there is no “eligibility criteria” for this award.
But Bartlett notes a breach of the ASADA and WADA codes for using performance-enhancing drugs is to be met with “all awards, prizes and honours being stripped”.
“If you are cold-blooded about it, you cannot understand how the AFL has differentiated between the Brownlow Medal and the All-Australian team,” said Barlett, a member of the 2012 selection panel.
“The AFL Commission says it was a no-brainer to take the Brownlow Medal from Watson. If you are cold-blooded, you would have to take away all the other awards and honours too.
“In this case, the AFL has adhered to the rules in one instance (the Brownlow Medal) and not the other (the All-Australian team).
“What a mess this saga has been.”
Watson’s Brownlow award will be presented in the next month to 2012 runners-up, Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin.
Technically, Watson should not have played in 2012 because he - and 33 of his Essendon team-mates - were in breach of the ASADA and WADA drug policy.
The anti-doping agencies’ leaders argue this should not only have awards stripped from Watson but also game records from that 2012 season.
The 2012 All-Australian team will remain unchanged. Bartlett adds it would be difficult for the 2012 All-Australian selection panel - which included Brownlow Medallist Mark Ricciuto, Luke Darcy, Glen Jakovich and former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou - to reconvene to re-select a team of the year without Watson.
“We don’t pick emergencies - there has never been the need,” Hall of Fame legend Barlett told The Advertiser.
“We don’t have a list of 15 players we discussed with one being unlucky because he missed out and immediately replaces Jobe in the All-Australian team.”
Cotchin was selected in the 2012 All-Australian team on the wing flanking Watson. Mitchell is not in this All-Australian team.
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
Originally published as All-Australian selector Kevin Bartlett says Jobe Watson cannot keep 2012 honour from AFL team of the year
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