Kevin Sheehan has explained why Collingwood’s Isaac Quaynor received the Round 17 Rising Star nomination over Adelaide’s Lachie Sholl.
Several Crows players were left stunned by Sholl’s snub after he amassed 24 disposals, eight score involvements, 627 metres gained and two goals in the win over Carlton.
Many expected the seven-game Crow to be nominated following his breakout performance, but Sheehan says it was Quaynor’s “body of work” that swayed the award's panel of experts.
The emerging Magpie had 17 disposals at 88.2 per cent efficiency along with seven marks and seven intercepts in the finals-clinching victory against Gold Coast.
“We’ve got a panel: Brad Scott, Brad Johnson, Chris Johnson and ultimately, I’m looking at every single game. Steve Hocking is a selector and we’ll go to him with a recommendation,” Sheehan told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“But late in the year – and that’s the point – in fact the last four or five rounds, the year to date, the body of work is weighted far greater than the performance just in the round.
“Because our ultimate aim this year is to get the most worthy 18 Rising Star nominations through to the panel of All-Australian selectors that then vote 5-4-3-2-1, and he (Quaynor) was second in our voting on a weekly basis to Noah Anderson back on Round 7.
“He then had some injuries and again on another occasion he was second or third, so he was right up there with his year to date, his body of work.
“And Lachie Sholl, it was a breakout game and a fantastic game, it was his seventh game at this point.
“He could have got it, it was close, but it wasn’t unanimous.
“In the finish, the body of work of Isaac Quaynor won the day. I appreciate all the passion people show for their own players.
“A tight vote, but that’s the way it went this week.”