Dangerfield's Brownlow
×
Right ▼
Footy's worst-kept secret was revealed last night when Geelong's Patrick Dangerfield, the shortest-priced favourite in history, took home the Brownlow Medal as the AFL's fairest and best player in 2016. Dangerfield polled 35 votes, the most ever under the 3-2-1 system, and finished nine votes ahead of Sydney's Luke Parker, the biggest winning margin since Alistair Lord, also of Geelong, polled 28 votes to finish nine ahead of Essendon's Ken Fraser.
The previous record-holder for most votes was Collingwood's Dane Swan, who polled 34 votes in his 2011 win.
Gold Coast's Aaron Hall set the night alight early in proceedings, picking up the maximum three votes in the first three matches of the season. But the Suns, who won all three of those matches, faded badly after that and did not poll again until late in the season. After Hall's early flurry, Patrick Dangerfield became the focus of the night.
Dangerfield polled in 15 matches, claiming the maximum three votes as best player on the ground in not fewer than nine matches. In second place, earning 26 votes (a total that would win the medal in many other seasons), was Sydney's Luke Parker. Parker had a fine season, and at various stages looked like causing the biggest boilover in Brownlow history. Parker had polled 13 votes after just six rounds, something that no player has done before, and although the remainder of his season was excellent, he was no match for Dangerfield in the year's later rounds.
In third place was Richmond's Dustin Martin, with 25 votes. Coming to the fore with three best-on-ground performances in a run off four matches, Martin took a share of the lead. Like Parker, his late-season form was also excellent but the boy from Moggs Creek, Dangerfield, proved an unstoppable force, picking ups three votes almost at will as Geelong won its last seven matches of the home-and-away season.
The ineligible Crow Rory Sloane finished up in fourth place, his 24 votes putting him three votes ahead of Andrew Gaff (West Coast), Dan Hannebery (Sydney) and Adam Treloar (Collingwood). Rounding out the top nine vote-getters were the Bulldogs' Marcus Bontempelli and Lachie Neale of Fremantle (both on 20 votes), each of whom is seen as a likely future Medal winner.
Sloane's suspension came late in the season when he was controversially charged with engaging in rough conduct against Port Adelaide's Brad Ebert. He was given a one-match suspension, a penalty he chose not to appeal for fear of having it increased to two matches.
Reinforcing the virtually irrefutable notion that the modern Brownlow Medal is purely a midfielders' award, the only player from any other part of the ground to make the top 12 was St Kilda's veteran skipper Nick Riewoldt, whose stellar season earned him 19 votes, along with two more midfielders, Essendon's Zach Merrett and Robbie Gray of Port Adelaide. Merrett's total made him the highest vote-getter from a wooden spoon team since Nathan Buckley collected 20 votes for Collingwood in 1999.
2016 Brownlow Medal leaderboard
35 - Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)
26 - Luke Parker (Syd)
25 - Dustin Martin (Rich)
24 - *Rory Sloane (Adel)
21 - Andrew Gaff (WCo)
21 - Dan Hannebery (Syd)
21 - Adam Treloar (Coll)
20 - Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
20 - Lachie Neale (Frem)
19 - Robbie Gray (Port)
19 - Nick Riewoldt (StK)
19 - Zach Merrett (Ess)
*Ineligible
Leading vote-getters by club
Adelaide: 24 - *Rory Sloane, 11 - Rory Laird, 10 - Eddie Betts, 8 - Josh Jenkins, 7 - Matt Crouch
Brisbane: 9 - Tom Rockliff, 5 - Dayne Zorko, 3 - Pearce Hanley, Mitch Robinson
Carlton: 18 - Patrick Cripps, 13 - Bryce Gibbs, 3 - Ed Curnow, Kade Simpson
Collingwood: 21 - Adam Treloar, 17 - Scott Pendlebury, 7 - Brodie Grundy, 5 - Taylor Adams, 3 - Alex Fasolo
Essendon: 19 - Zach Merrett, 6 - *David Zaharakis, 4 - Adam Cooney, Joe Daniher
Fremantle: 20 - Lachie Neale, 4 - Nat Fyfe, 3 - Connor Blakley, Michael Walters
Geelong: 35 - Patrick Dangerfield, 18 - Joel Selwood, 8 - Corey Enright, 6 - Steve Motlop, 3 - Cameron Guthrie
Gold Coast: 11 - Aaron Hall, Tom Lynch, 6 - Gary Ablett, 3 - Michael Rischitelli, Peter Wright
GWS: 17 - Stephen Coniglio, 12 - Callan Ward, 7 - Tom Scully, Dylan Shiel
Hawthorn: 16 - Sam Mitchell, 11 - Jordan Lewis, 10 - Josh Gibson, 8 - Shaun Burgoyne, Cyril Rioli
Melbourne: 16 - Max Gawn, 14 - *Jack Viney, 11 - Nathan Jones, 6 - Jesse Hogan, Dom Tyson, *Bernie Vince
North Melbourne: 12 - Daniel Wells, 11 - Todd Goldstein, 8 - Jarrad Waite, 7 - Jack Ziebell, 6 - Sam Gibson
Port Adelaide: 19 - Robbie Gray, 11 - Ollie Wines, 7 - Travis Boak, 5 - Aaron Young
Richmond: 25 - Dustin Martin, 9 - Trent Cotchin, 7 - Alex Rance, 4 - Ben Griffiths, 3 - Brandon Ellis
St Kilda: 19 - Nick Riewoldt, 16 - Jack Steven, 10 - Sebastian Ross, 9 - Tim Membrey, 7 - Leigh Montagna
Sydney: 26 - Luke Parker, 21 - Dan Hannebery, 17 - Lance Franklin, 14 - Josh Kennedy, 12 - Tom Mitchell
West Coast: 21 - Andrew Gaff, 17 - Josh Kennedy, Matt Priddis, 10 - Luke Shuey, 5 - Mark LeCras, 3 - Elliot Yeo
Western Bulldogs: 20 - Marcus Bontempelli, 13 - Lachie Hunter, 10 - Jason Johannisen, 7 - Luke Dahlhaus
Comments
This article does not contain any comments.
Login to leave a comment.