Of the top five players - Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio, Dustin Martin, Bachar Houli and Ty Vickery - Deledio was the oldest, and most experienced, at 24, with 150 games to his credit.
The average age of that quintet is just 22, while the average games per those five are only 70. Martin, at 20 years, three months, and with 43 games under his belt, is the youngest and least experienced of that group.
A look at the next five in the 2011 Jack Dyer Medal count - Alex Rance, Robin Nahas, Nathan Foley, Jack Riewoldt and Shaun Grigg - shows Foley, at age 26, and a veteran of 110 games, the oldest and most experienced, with Rance, 21 years, 11 months, and 44 games, the youngest and least experienced.
All-up, the top-10 vote-getters in the 2011 Jack Dyer Medal, contained just two players with 100-games-plus experience (Deledio and Foley). Six of the top 10 had played 50 games or more (Deledio, Foley, Riewoldt, Cotchin, Grigg and Nahas), with four not having yet reached the 50-game milestone (Houli, Vickery, Rance and Martin).
While on the subject of the Tigers’ talented department of youth, it’s interesting to note the voting efforts of Dylan Grimes in the 2011 Jack Dyer Medal.
Grimes, 20 years and two months, of age, managed to finish in the top 20 (19th overall), with 60 votes, despite his season ending with a serious shoulder injury suffered in the Round 9 Dreamtime victory over Essendon. That was just his seventh senior appearance for the year.blog comments powered by Disqus
