The Brisbane Lions have pulled down a somewhat bizarre and embarrassing article which ranted about the AFL’s Rising Star award.

The article, which was published on the club’s website and promoted on the Lions’ social media channels, spruiked son-of-a-gun Levi Ashcroft for the award, but also hinted that some sort of conspiracy theory was at play.

Bookmakers, media and even the AFL were all in the firing line as the opinion piece — which was published without an author’s name — hit out at what it called an “annual problem that confronts the northern states”.

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Ashcroft is the son of Lions great, Marcus Ashcroft, and the No.5 draft pick has had a sensational first season in the AFL — which no one denies.

But he sits third favourite with the bookmakers behind Adelaide utility Dan Curtin and Fremantle forward Murphy Reid, dropping behind the top two who have been flying home recently and making strong impressions on the AFL world.

It’s a tight race and the players are all very different. Curtin, the favourite, is a second-year player and has sublime marking skills, while Reid plays in the more difficult role and has 22 goals for the season.

It should also be noted that they have all held their place in very strong teams.

But the unknown author of the article had multiple issues, particularly with Curtin’s status as the bookies’ favourite, as well as the rules around the award that allow a second-year player to be eligible.

“The decision by the bookmakers to drop Ashcroft in the betting is part of an annual problem that confronts the northern states. There is next to no media support in Queensland for the Lions star while the South Australian media are all over Curtin and the West Australian media likewise for Reid,” the mystery writer said.

“Curtin, a second-year player at Adelaide at 20, but eligible for the Rising Star Award because he played only seven games last year, has averaged 13.5 possessions, 6.7 contested possessions, 1.9 clearances and 3.4 tackles, with an average player rating of 10.13.

“But through the first nine games he was going at 9.3 possessions, 4.4 contested possessions, 0,4 clearances and 2.3 tackles, with a rating of 8.00.

“Reid, a legitimate first-year player at 19, has averaged 14.0 possessions, 5.3 contested possessions and 5.4 score involvements in 21 games, and has kicked 22 goals.

“But, significantly, after kicking four goals on debut in Round 1, he’s been a multiple goal-kicker only twice — he kicked four against Port Adelaide in Round 11 and 2 against Port last weekend.

“It doesn’t help, either, that Queensland is the only state not represented on a judging panel which is headed by AFL CEO Andrew Dillon and now includes new football boss Greg Swann, in-house football (staffers) Kevin Sheehan and Laura Kane, plus Nathan Buckley, Eddie Betts and Abbey Holmes, plus Perth-based Glenn Jakovich and Matthew Pavlich, Adelaide-based Kane Cornes and Sydney-based Jude Bolton.”

Including Swann in the argument was particularly intriguing given Swann was Brisbane’s CEO this year and has only just started at AFL HQ.

While the article was deleted, a social media post was still visible at the time of writing (as was the fans’ reaction).

“Is this real or some kind of deep fake punk on us all? Surely this isn’t real,” one fan said about the article.

“Jesus, this is grim,” another said.

And another: “This is disgusting Brisbane. Can the author of this have some dignity to actually name themselves in the byline?”

And another: “What an embarrassing article to post.”

The backlash kept coming in a flurry, with one observer sarcastically noting that the “feedback on this is going well”.

Another said: “I hope Freo pump them tonight, this is the most pathetic stuff I’ve ever seen 😭.”

And another: “This is embarrassing 😂😂.”

Of course, clubs are allowed to have a biased take, but to hint that others are not professional and impartial is, needless to say, a dangerous game.

Fans were also angered by the fact that the reporter was anonymous — it is common practice in media to put a name on a comment piece and that should be no different in clubland.

“Who wrote this? This is shocking!! So unbelievably biased and pulling random stats and ignoring others just to suit a narrative. Do better,” one fan said.

And another: “This is genuinely embarrassing and, if anything, might actually hurt Levi’s reputation. Everyone knows he’s a gun but there are plenty of eligible guns in contention for the rising star. He’s not owed the award.”

And another: “I have money on him, but I hope he loses now. This is the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen an AFLclub do in a very long time.”

An AFL spokesperson told www.20304050.best that they were unaware of the article.