2014 Brownlow Medal

2014 Brownlow Medal
Date 22 September
Location Crown Palladium
Host Bruce McAvaney
Winner Matt Priddis (West Coast)
26 votes
Television/Radio coverage
Network Seven Network
Fox Footy

The Brownlow Medal is the most prestigious individual award in Australian rules football. The award was presented on Monday, 22 September, in the week before the 2014 AFL Grand Final.

Defending Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett (Gold Coast) was the short-priced favourite for the medal until he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in round 16. Betting on the medal was suspended while the extent of the injury to Ablett was determined.[1] Geelong captain Joel Selwood, Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury and the Sydney Swans' Josh Kennedy were considered to be among the new favourites in the wake of Ablett's injury,[2] but at the end of the season Ablett was still second favourite to have polled enough votes before his injury to win the award.[3] He ended up polling the equal-third most number of votes, tying with Sydney's Lance Franklin on 22 votes.

Matt Priddis won the Brownlow Medal, polling 26 votes.

Leading votegetters

Player Votes
1st Matt Priddis (West Coast) 26
Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle)* 25
=2nd Gary Ablett, Jr. (Gold Coast)
Lance Franklin (Sydney)
22
=4th Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide)
Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
Josh Kennedy (Sydney)
Joel Selwood (Geelong)
21

* The player was ineligible to win the medal due to suspension by the AFL Tribunal during the year.

Voting procedure

The three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and are read and tallied on the evening.

As the medal is awarded to the fairest and best player in the league,[4] those who have been suspended during the season by the AFL Tribunal (or, who avoided suspension only because of a discount for a good record or an early guilty plea) are ineligible to win the award; however, they may still continue to poll votes. The most notable 2014 case was Fremantle's Nat Fyfe: after Ablett's injury, Fyfe became the strong favourite to poll the most votes, but he was already ineligible after being suspended for two weeks for a bump on Gold Coast's Michael Rischitelli in round 2, and he was suspended again for two weeks after striking Hawthorn's Jordan Lewis in round 21.[5]

References

  1. Quayle, Emma; Schetzer, Alana (6 July 2014). "Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett's inconclusive scans delay diagnosis".
  2. The wash-up of Gary Ablett's injury, The Roar, 7 July 2014
  3. Rohan Connolly (17 August 2014). "Brownlow Medal race shaping as a classic with Ablett, Franklin and Heppell in the frame". The Age (Melbourne, VIC). Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  4. "About the Brownlow". Afl.com.au. 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
  5. Jesse Hogan (19 August 2014). "Freo blunder leaves suspended Nat Fyfe with extra points". The Age (Melbourne, VIC). Retrieved 15 September 2014.
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