AFL player Clayton Oliver has used medical issues to persuade judges to nominate him for The Frownlow Medal in 2023.
Just days before the medal is set to be awarded, the Melbourne player was reported to have committed a traffic offence.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while NRL star Manase Fainu is the most recent recipient.
Oliver will face court soon after being pulled over by police for driving with a licence that had been suspended on medical grounds. He had been banned from driving after he suffered a seizure, but he chose to drive anyway.
It is not the first time he has used medical reasons for personal gain. Earlier in the year he was rushed to hospital after collapsing at training.
At the time, he blamed ADHD medication, lack of sleep and stress from the first day back at training, but it later emerged that he had been spoken to by the Demons about his behaviour and the club’s expectations.
Medical reasons were enough to earn Oliver a nomination for The Frownlow Medal, but will they be enough to win it?
We’ll find out in a few weeks.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 