Two-time premiership skipper calls out ‘uneven and unfair’ Rising Star award

Two-time Adelaide premiership captain Mark Bickley isn’t a fan of the rules that surround the AFL’s Rising Star award.

The gong - which recognises the game’s best and fairest young player in any given season - is set to be handed out at Thursday night’s AFL Awards and many experts expect Geelong’s Ollie Dempsey to take out the honours for his campaign.

While Bickley acknowledges that Dempsey is a deserving winner if the award goes his way, he disagrees with the eligibility for the award.

To be eligible for nomination in any given season, the player must be under the age of 21 on January 1 of that year and have played 10 or fewer AFL games at the start of the season. Players are also ruled ineligible if they’re suspended during the season.

Bickley doesn’t believe that it’s fair that Dempsey - who is 21 and in his third season - will likely win ahead of first-year players such as Caleb Windsor, Colby McKercher and Darcy Wilson - as he thinks it doesn’t acknowledge those brilliant enough to impact in their first seasons.

“I'm going to have a bit of a crack at the Rising Star Award which is going to be announced on Thursday night,” Bickley told SEN SA Breakfast.

“I just don't think it's even and fair, because out of all the experts, 90 per cent of them think that Ollie Dempsey from Geelong is going to win the award.

“Now, Ollie Dempsey is about to turn 22. He debuted three seasons ago, so he played two games in his first year and five games in his second - so he stayed under the 10-game criteria and he’s played a full season this year.

“He's competing against Caleb Windsor, Colby McKercher and Darcy Wilson, who are playing their first year, who have done one pre-season … it doesn't reward guys who are brilliant enough to play in their first season.

“It actually rewards blokes who battle their way through for two or three years before they actually hit their straps.

“I'm just not sure it's totally fair.”

Born on January 7 2003, Dempsey was eligible for the award by one week in terms of age, while he had played seven career games before the 2024 campaign.

Bickley also added that he’s okay with second-year players being eligible if they don’t get a good run in their third season, but he’d like to see third-year players be deemed ineligible if he could alter the rules to his liking.

“He's 21 and 234 days old. You’ve got to be under 21 at the start of the season, I get the criteria,” Bickley said.

“But even George Wardlaw, I don't mind it if you can make it a two-year thing. He played eight games last year and 18 this year. I don’t mind that if in your first season, you play under 10 you’re eligible for the award.

“But if you play two in your first and five in your second and then you go into your third season … I'm just not sure that's in the spirit of it.”

Daniel Talia was the most recent third-year player to win the award in 2012. The previous two winners - Harry Sheezel and Nick Daicos - were both first-year players in 2023 and 2022 respectively.