Footy Finals, Award Winners and Card Values

Now that the finals are upon us, how do these games and the ultimate Grand Final winner effect the value of the cards.

Although the overall value of team sets of the winning Grand Final team can be effect, it is normally the cards of individuals that will be effected the most. Individual players as they win Brownlows, Coleman medals, Norm Smith medals, MVP awards, and the Rising Star award, change the value of their cards the moment the medal is put around their neck.

Although some card values rise just prior to the ceremonies as people try and guess the winner the majority of the cards rise from the next day as people try and make quick profits from the acolades of these champions.

Want to know more, want some predictions then read on....

Keep reading to find out my sleeper card 2009 and which 2 players apear on it.

Coleman Medal Winner

With the Coleman medal all wrapped up for this year and Brendan Fevola winning the award there hasnt been too much activity on his cards as this is not his first and he already has a reasonable popularity, with that the Coleman medal winner does not always get the high profile collectors in the hobby that previous Full Forwards like Jason Dunstal or Tont Lockett would of had chasing their items. Normally a good gauge of how much effect a player will have on the market when he wins an award is watching their high end signature or draft pcick cards and the price for Fevola's signature cards  is just over average and some of that could be because people are expecting him to make an off field mistake and cost himself a spot in the team. So my expectation of his cards would be to stay reasonably constant, there maybe a little movement on his 2003 Select Ultra Destiny Signature and his 2007 Select Supreme Signature Card.

The NAB Rising Star Award

This award can have an extremely high impact on prices for the Draft Pick Signature card and Draft Rookie card of the player. This year Daniel Rich of Brisbane is the favourite and has been for some time which has helped to increase his prices over the year, although he has some competition from a few other players around the league like Naitanu, Hill and Hurley. Like most awards there are always the surprises and is someone else has snuck under the hobby radar and wins the awards then you will see a very quick rise in the price of their cards, similar to Danyle Pearce of Port Adelaide winning it a few years back over Marc Murphy. My choice here is Rich to take out the award and his prices to rise but watch out for Masten of West Coast.

The Brownlow Medal

This year looks as tight as previous years with a few players out in front on the bookies odds, the regular G. Ablett is vieing for top stop against the likes of C. Judd and I think a new favourite of D. Swan or the chance of a Saint with N. Dal Santo to win. However like other years including last years winner A. Cooney there can always be a surprise. I think all of the top names will benefit from a winner on the night of nights for the AFL and the winner of the 2009 Brownlow medal will also walk away with the hobby elite status and a quick grab for their high end cards and draft pick signatures. My pick for the Brownlow medal winner and new Hobby Super star will be Dane Swan Collingwood, who was the 2001 4th round number #58 draft pick and to date doesnt have a high end or even medium price card. Look out in 2010 for him to appear on a large number of cards and inserts.

The Norm Smith Medalist

This award although in the medal card set every year deosnt always mean that it will move you or your cards higher into the hobby. When pre-made hobby stars win the award it helps then with a wider profile and additional cards however it hasnt helped all Norm Smith medalist. After Steve Johnson winning the award there wasnt a rush on his cards where Luke Hodge who had a good hobby following found that his Draft pick cards started sparking some more interest. It is always hard to give an answer for this award now, however thinking maybe a Collingwood v St Kilda Grand Final I might go for a high impact winner and again pick Dane Swan giving him the double and making all his cards next year  price around the level of Judd's card prices, and a side bet if the Bulldogs get in that it is Brian Lake however if he wins it there probaly wont be much demand on  his cards as he is from a lower support base club and not as high profile.

The AFLPA MVP Leigh Matthews Trophy

How could you go past Gary Ablett jnr winning this award for a 3rd straight year, he has a high profile through the league and in the spotlight every week. He will have some competition from a few other high profile players like Chris Judd, Dane Swan and even Simon Black but my money would be on ABLETT!!! having the triple. Card wise this wont make much difference to his card values as he is already known as a star, and a future legend, this award doesnt have the same impact on cards as the Brownlow.

After the well know individual awards are the team awards

All Australian Team

One of these awards is the All Australian Team which can help some of the players within the hobby. Normally it will highlight a few players who in the past have missed insert sets and now with inclusion on the All Australian team get more recognition but unfortunately this doesnt always progress into better value cards. I cant see for example the inclusion of Jarryd Harbrow from the Bulldogs increasing any of his cards however if it was Naitanui that broke into the team as a rookie that could help establish him as a hobby favourite.

AFL Finalists / Grand Finalist

Over the years I have seen various changes in the prices of team sets for teams that make the final and the Grand Final, however this isnt always just because hobbyists want these sets normally it is a bit of a spin off from other areas of memorabilia, like the framers who want to fill orders for these teams and also preparing for the winning team onslaught of merchandise. Over recent weeks I have noted bigger demands on St Kilda and Geelong with Collingwood also starting to increase above normal demand levels. The bulldogs not so much as they are still an outsider against the other 3 but with the win over the Magpies today, many people see the Bulldogs only stumbling block to go all the way is if they have to meet St Kilda along the way. My tip is Collingwood and St Kilda team sets will increase over the next few weeks.

Grand Final Winner

The most movement in prices for cards will come from the team trying to win the 2009 AFL premiership season, and as teams fight for places, hobbyists try to get the Premiership Predictors that match the Top 8, Top 4, Top 2 and finally the Grand Final winner. Last year saw the Geelong predictor getting $120 each for most of the year as people believed they were the only team in the competition and when Hawthorn did get up and win many people had to chase their card and drove the price of the Hawthorn predictor card up overnight to double the price that it was the week leading upto the Grand Final. My bet for this would be to have hold of both St Kilda and Collingwood predictors (and better see if you can grab a cheap Geelong one while you are at it). Both teams have a great chance so I would expect they will both be getting around $75-$100 and Geelong around the $70-$80 this week. The outside says pick up a few cheap Bulldog Predictors.

The winning team will also have thier boxed set of cards and will for a couple of weeks have better prices for their team sets as supporter jump on the band wagon and buy up anything of that team for 2009. This normally doesnt last past the end of October.

The Sleeper Card

So my sleeper card for this year with Fevola winning the Coleman medal would be if Chris Judd takes out the Brownlow Medal and the card in question is the 2009 Select Champions Double Trouble DT2 Judd/Fevola. And the competition for that card could be if Geelong have Ablett winning the browlow and Bartel winning the Norm Smith medal.

Watch out over the next few weeks for other up coming articles like the Year in Review, Card Manufacturing and much more to keep your interests up over summer.