There are many things I love about sport but diversity in the range of characters it produces, embraces, and celebrates is right up there!

Rarely, I submit, do we have a better example than right now, in the stunning contrasts between the winner of the Brownlow Medal in the AFL and last night's winner of the Dally M Medal in rugby league.

The Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin?

I wouldn't know him to kick him down the stairs, and frankly, I wouldn't dare to. I have no doubt he is a good man, but can we face facts?

He looks, does he not, like a bloke who, if he insulted you in a bar, you'd say, "If you say that one more time ... OK, OK, OK ... if you say that FIVE more times ... I really will knock your block off!"

(Not that Martin himself would insult you – just stay with me, could you?)

In interviews, he glowers, he glares, he clearly wants to be anywhere but there and the onlywarmth he projects seems to be when he talks of his mum, or his dad the bikie, the one recently deported to New Zealand. In terms of a rap sheet of scandals, he has at least had his fair share, mostly involving drunken aggression.

But how good is he? And how quickly has he come from nowhere to streak across AFL skies, at least in the popular imagination? Personally, I only even noticed him a couple of weeks ago when his Richmond Tigers played our Swans.

Never seen him before, never even heard of him, but suddenly, it felt like he was the only bloke on the field. He kicked, he marked, he exploded out of the blocks, he weaved, he scored – all of it, seemingly in the one movement! And then he repeated it, again and again. He was simply mesmerising to watch and you did not have to be to AFL born to appreciate his staggering array of eclectic, electric skills.

Now contrast with Cameron Smith, otherwise known as MrUpstanding from Central Casting. He neither glowers, nor glares. He looks straight down the barrel of the camera and smiles – and, in terms of personal behaviour, in his whole career his name has not been attached to a single Saturday night scandal. On-field, much the same.

With the exception of the Alex McKinnon episode, his name has not even been mentioned in dispatches in terms of scandal. Come to think of it, has he even been penalised?

And look at the way he plays. Unlike Martin, Smith does not appear to be doing it all himself, and the camera doesn't just glow red when on him.

But, rather, when Smith is on the field, there is a sense of an inexorable machine crushing all before it, with Smith in the driver's seat, and everything stemming from his decisions, his positioning, his example, and his crisp instructions to all those around him.

And far from having been there for just five minutes, he's been doing it since the turn of last century!

Are you with me? Both men are fabulous footballers and, as of last night, the best in their business. But peas in a pod they ain't, and nor are their characters a function of their sports. They simply stand as testament to the fact that there are many ways to be valuable in sport, and – perhaps more than in other fields of endeavour – many diverse kinds of character can flourish.

At different times, rugby league has produced any number of glowering geniuses whose name has been perpetually in the middle of scandals, while AFL has produced many characters like Smith, fantastic footballers who also manage to project good citizenship. (Nathan Buckley springs to mind, as does James Hir... oh, wait.)

Still, the question begs. In forming the perfect footballer, would you choose the qualities of Dustin Martin's or Cameron Smith?

Easy. For an excitement machine, you'd choose Martin, hands down. But to build a dynasty, take Smith every time.

Either way, what they have both achieved is staggering, and congrats to them both.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz