In the end it was Gary Ablett Jnr's night. And while I correctly predicted a Cat would take out the prestigious award, I chose the wrong one in opting for Joel Selwood, who managed 16 votes, and finished in eighth spot.
It was a tale of ‘catch me if you can’ for Ablett, who polled votes in the first five rounds of the season and blew out to 22 by round 14 (the last player to achieve such a feat was Robert Harvey in 1998). He had the award tied up following the conclusion of round 20, where he found himself seven ahead of Lenny Hayes – who made a charge but fell short playing only two of the last four games of the season – with two rounds to go and finished on 30 votes, eight in front of Carlton captain Chris Judd who finished in second place.
While it was a night of jubilation for the favourite, a few key questions emerge about  some contentious voting decisions. Dane Swan missed out on votes in a game where he managed 38 possessions against Brisbane in round 18, and didn’t really feature or challenge throughout the night, having been one of the early favourites. And Paul Hasleby picked up one  vote against Collingwood, in a game where Fremantle got beaten by 84 points, which seems a little odd.  Some other oddities:  Carlton and champion full- Brendan Fevola. In round four Carlton lost by just four points to Hawthorn and full-forward Brenda Fevola managed to equal his career best tally with eight goals, but couldn’t manage  a single  vote. And again in round 15 against Richmond, Fevola managed to achieve a career high nine goals and received only two votes, while skipper Chris Judd got the three.
As others have observed, the recurring midfield dominance was obvious again on the field  in 2009, and in last night's count,  midfielders featuring in nine out of the top 10 places - Jonathan Brown being the only exception. With this in mind I'm advocating a change to the system, considering that the last key position player to win the Brownlow was Scott Wynd in 1992, and he was a ruckman. Questions should be raised as to whether umpires should be left the responsibilities of deciding the votes. I’ve always been a firm believer that the umpires should be left solely to adjudicate the game, having the least amount of influence as possible, but the AFL begs to differ.
To an extent I empathise with the umpires on their midfield choices. They both run side-by-side with each other all game – wherever the ball is, the midfield player will be, and the umpire will be somewhere in the background as well. But there have to be some standout players that should be placing better, if not seriously contending for the award.
Why shouldn’t a Jonathan Brown or a Brendan Fevola win the Brownlow? Fevola managed 86 goals and Brown 78; they’ve both undoubtedly won games off their own boot, just as many as midfield stalwarts Chris Judd and Simon Black have. Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin managed something in 2008 that many thought  would never happen again  – he booted 100 goals in a season, but only managed to come in sixth in the Brownlow vote. .
I can see the other side to it though. Without the midfield, there is no drive into the forward line, so how are forwards meant to win games? But without forwards how are teams meant to kick goals?
Perhaps it is time for the likes of Andrew Demetriou, Adrian Anderson and Mike Fitzpatrick and co. to consider an overhaul of the Brownlow Medal voting system, and have a panel of completely impartial spectators present the votes, instead of the status quo whereby three officials have to juggle between interpreting, officiating and then finding the best three players from a game.
After all, it is the Brownlow Medal, not a midfield award.
John Pyrros is a second-year Law/Media student at La Trobe University.
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Is John right? Is it time to rethink the Brownlow voting system? Let us know what you think.
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Tags: Brownlow, Brownlow Medal, Gary Ablett Jnr, John Pyrros, sport
11 Comments
Couldn’t agree with you more Johnny.
I particularly feel for the defenders of the competition. All-Australian Corey Enright was named in the back pocket of the team and couldn;t even get a vote, even though it’s probably been his best year to date.
It’s a midfielders reward, which is a real shame, and the guys inside 50 are really hard done by.
… i totally agree with you Johhny.
its should be every players reward, not just the midfielders.
Look forward to reading your next article!
Another joke. Round 17 Dal Santo picks up 39 disposals and has a blinder of a game beating off 2 taggers!! yet not even a single vote! Hayes gets 20% less disposals and no where near the impact yet gets 3 votes. Kick these umpires off Brownlow selection it is proving embarrassing for the AFL.
Another Joke. Round 15 Swans get dumped by Essendon. Stanton major architect for the win with 29 possessions and 10 marks and a GOAL. But it goes to Goodes for 22 possessions and 1 GOAL? How is all of that even possible?
Brownlow votes should be weighed against the opposition. Meaning that 3 points earned against the bottom team should not carry the same weight as 3 points earned against the top team. The 2 players haven’t played at the same level
Another Joke. Round 6 Port Adelaide beat Adelaide by 26 Points and the 3 votes got to Pearce for his fantastic (sarcasm) 17 Possession – 6 Marks and 2 Goals. 2 votes to Brogan – 1 vote to Surjan…who? Surjan yeah the guy who lit up the field with his 12 possessions and 2 marks! Compared to K Cornes 37 Possession and 6 Marks!! who did not rate a POINT at all.
or chad cornes with 27 possessions – 12 Marks and 2 Goals!! So what are these umpires on?? Obviously a dozen cans too many after the game in the change room. It is physically not possible for 3 idiots to get a game SO WRONG!!
not a bad theory proposed. but how do we get impartial spectators? if they have any knowledge of the game (enough so to adjudicate on brownlow votes) they would have either played AFL or followed it so heavily that they have pre-existing allegiances to players and teams. if you make a team full of forwards then they would favor forwards and etc. If you put up a mixed group (of former midfielders, forwards, defenders) the votes will be a joke. but i do agree there were some very weird voting games but remember it goes on influence on the game, swan gets 30+ and more then half of them are on his own and in the back half.
This pece micevski character better watch what he is saying whoever he is. swan gets more hard ball than the entire roos team combined. oh and another joke… sandy roberts not shutting up. i got a good idea, why not let the brownlow medal winner, the person we all stayed up to watch, speak!?!?!?! outraged.
Yeah fowards should be given more of a chance, but they are the one’s providing the fowards with the ball, but tell me, why do no backmen also recieve any votes? how does someone like corey enright, 2008 and 2009 all australian recieve no voted in the 2009 brownlow?
I’m not so sure they should just look at the foward voting, but all ground voting system. If a backmen can rebound like a matthew scarlett or brian lake and set up fowards or the play, why are they not rewarded?
I was happy with the result of 2009 not because it was a geelong player and i am a geelong supporter, but because ablett does deserve it for all of his work around the ground providing for the fowards and also kicking goals, an all round superstar and never been reported
i don’t know just my opinon some people may disagree
Although i do agree that the voting system of the brownlow medal does need a thorough review, there is a lot more to a game of football than how many possessions one player gets, because although dane swan goes out and gets 35 possessions a week, the reason he doesnt get as many votes as say Adam Goodes is because he does not have the same effect on the game. Adam Goodes can change the course of a game with very few possessions due to his ability to dictate the terms of an entire game. He does not ball chase like a dane swan does, but has brilliant football smarts which allow him to read the play and have more effective disposals. So even though the system does need a review the general public often get caught up in possession tallies rather than percentage of possessions resulting in a shot on goal or percentage preventing a goal.
Personally i would rather see a change in the rule disallowing suspended players to win the medal, as it is a sad blot on the game as Cory McKernan and Chris Grant know.