AFL Betting on the Brownlow Medal

AFL Betting: AFL football is definitely the most loved sport in Australia.  As of last year, this sport ranked 4th in the world in terms of average attendance, and the trend certainly continues for this current year.  AFL betting promises to become even more exciting in 2012, when the number of teams competing for the top eight spots in the final series will increase to 18.  A new team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants, will join the fray and is sure to impact AFL betting significantly.
One of the most common AFL betting types is the Brownlow Medal, also known as “Charlie”.  Formally designated as the Chas Brownlow Trophy, the Charlie is given to the best and fairest player in an AFL regular season.  The Charlie is held as the highest individual honor that can be achieved in Australian Rules Football.  To determine who gets awarded the Charlie, officiating umpires cast votes after each game.

Here are some AFL betting tips for the Charlie:

1.    Watch pre-season games to get an idea for outstanding contenders.  If you are betting on the Brownlow medal, you are likely to get the best odds possible if you punt before the start of the season, or within the first several weeks into it.
2.    Take into consideration how each candidate had featured over the past seasons.  A contender who misses games on account of injury is unlikely to garner enough points to win the award.  More importantly, take a punt on someone who has no history of reports and suspensions.  Remember that the Charlie is given to the fairest and the best player of the year; a suspension automatically disqualifies a player from the award.
3.    Bet on a player whose team will feature in the final series.
4.    Identify stand-out players from good teams and form a short list from these candidates.
5.    Focus on midfield players.  Historically, the Charlie have typically been awarded to midfielders, since forward line, ruck, and those in defense tend to get ignored.
6.    Brownlow votes are likely to be awarded to an outstanding player who can avoid a hard tag.
7.    Use recent polling history to choose your candidates.  The Charlie is a rather subjective award, and league popularity certainly does play a part.  Umpire perception of a player will invariably dictate how the points are awarded.  While it may seem unfair, umpires are after all, only human.  Role changes and impending retirement can be just the thing that influences umpires to award points to a certain contender.