Awards Given So Far.

With the end of the home and away season comes award time. We all know about the Brownlow Medal, but the winner of this award is not announced until the Monday night before the grand final is played. What about now? Are there any awards given to the AFL players, now that the home and away season is over, and are made public immediately?

The answer is yes. The "All-Australian" team is selected and the AFL Players Association honors players by selecting an MVP, best captain, best first year player, mark and goal of the year. Below are the winners for the 2001 season.

The All Australian Team.

On Monday the 3rd of September, the 2001 All Australian Team was announced. Selected by a committee of ex players and/or coaches and media personalities, this year's team contains nine debutants out of the 22 players. Jonathan Hay, Joel Smith, Matthew Primus, Warren Tredrea, Brad Ottens, Simon Black, Nigel Lappin, Jason Johnson and Nathan Brown were all welcomed to the All Australian side for the first time.

The committee, comprised of Rod Austin, Andrew Demetriou, Gerard Healy, Robert Walls, Chris Mainwaring, Neil Kerley and Kevin Bartlett, went for form rather than reputation when making their selections. This is evident when players such as Wayne Carey, Robert Harvey and Stephen Silvagni do not gain selection.

The bulk of the team was made up of players from the top eight sides. Essendon and Brisbane had four players selected, whilst Port Adelaide contributed three. Only three players, Nathan Brown, Nathan Buckley and Ben Cousins, were selected from teams in the bottom half of the ladder.

The team for 2001 is:

Backs - Gavin Wanganeen (PA) Jonathan Hay (Haw) Darren Gaspar (Rich)

Half-backs - Joel Smith (Haw) Sean Wellman (Ess) Andrew McKay (Car)

Centres - Jason Akermanis (Bris) Brett Ratten (Carl) Nathan Buckley (Coll)

Half-forwards - Michael Voss (vc Bris) Warren Tredrea (PA) James Hird (c Ess)

Forwards - Brad Ottens (Carl) Matthew Lloyd (Ess) Ben Cousins (WCE)

Ruck - Matthew Primus (PA) Simon Black (Bris) Andrew McLeod (Adel)

Interchange - Nathan Brown (WB) Simon Goodwin (Adel) Jason Johnson (Ess) Nigel Lappin (Bris)

Australian International Rules Side.

The All Australian players, if available, are automatically selected in the Australian side to play Ireland in the upcoming Foster's International Rules series in October this year. The match committee for this series, Garry Lyon (coach), Gerard Healy (chairman), Kevin Sheehan, Rod Austin, Graham Cornes and Robert Walls, were able to add additional players to suite the game. An additional 14 players were added to the squad. These players are:

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