Why aren't the marks or goals in FINALS matches, counted as the best of the year?

because same as all such awards, they specifically are for events that took place during the minor round.

simply it is because such an award is fair to all players, not giving players from eight teams additional chances to win such awards which would be the case if finals were included. . as it stands it is fair to all players, simply because they all play the same amount of games. I agree the Mark of Jay Schulz was indeed excellent , but for such an award to be fair, all players have to have an equal chance to win such awards, not some playing more games than others.

one could say the same about the brownlow, and it would be equally as wrong.

They have been counted in Finals matches before on 3 occasions that I'm aware of, first was 1970 with the inaugural mark of the year, that famous Jezza mark in the Grand Final, then ,78 when Phil ,the snake' Baker took one in the Granny against the Hawks and the last one I know of is that fool Capper in a Qual Final in 1987.

So not sure what the go is these days, but they were once eligible, I know now the public vote after each round in the life broke mark and goal of the year, but the all aust selectors pick the actual winner for some reason, I mean why vote at all during the year if that's the case, very strange, remember the public voted for Goddard over that Liam Jurrah mark for mark of the week, but when it came to the MOTY, the panel went for Jurrahs, even though it didn't win the weekly prize.