Star Sainter: The FanFooty Superstar

We’re introducing our first FanFooty player award, and one of the current co-leaders may surprise you.

I have been ruminating on this concept for a little while now. The idea is taken from FanFooty’s successful live scoring pages, which have become famous for the little icons next to most player names. indicating news about them, including form and injury status. Over time, I have developed intricate rules for how each icon is allocated and when, which are explained on the page itself as in the one for this week’s Friday night game, and I have largely followed these rules for every game.

For instance, the star is awarded only once per game, to the player who I think would be awarded best on ground, especially in the Brownlow. The gun, also awarded only once (except on very rare occasion!), is a more fantasy-specific award. The heart is usually reserved for players who play through injury or other adversity for a decent score. The “hot” symbol, known as the fireball or sun, is for players who are on track for or have reached a Dream Team ton. Finally, the garbage bin symbol is for players who rack up meaningless stats during junk time when a game is well and truly over as a contest… but those points mean just as much in Dream Team as when the heat was on!

Following these rules, I have decided to award votes for each game on the following basis:

: 5 votes
: 4 votes
: 3 votes
: 2 votes
: 1 vote

The FanFooty Superstar page lists all the votes by round and the cumulative totals. I was interested myself to see who was leading, given that I have allocated out the icons without reference to any award. Gary Ablett jnr has dropped behind with his injury layoff, leaving the ever-reliable Dean Cox and Saint Leigh Montagna in the lead. Montagna has racked up three stars, two guns and a fireball, while Cox has just the one star, a heart, four guns and a fireball. GAJ has three stars and two guns, with Steve Johnson in fourth with two stars, one heart and two guns.

I’m not sure if any conclusions can be deriven from any of this… perhaps those of you who are betting on the likes of Lenny Hayes for the Brownlow might take a second look at Montagna’s odds? Interesting to see that Leon Davis does not figure all that prominently, as he is currently second behind Ablett in the Super Coach Brownlow votes.

I don’t know what I’ll be able to do with the final results, as I’m not sure I’d be allowed to present the winner with his prize… and I don’t know what I’d give him anyway. A FanFooty cap, maybe? A permanent colour in the FF chat? 😀