If the most memorable moment out of your code’s “night of nights” doesn’t even involve the winner, you’ve got a problem.
This is where the AFL is at with the Brownlow Medal after another bizarre count led to more questions about the voting process and whether the umpires should still be in charge of deciding who wins the award.
The moment in question arrived towards the back end of what was at that point an exciting count as the eventual Brownlow Medal winner, Matt Rowell, held off his closest challenger, Nick Daicos.
When Round 20 arrived, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon — who reads the votes from each game — had increased his already breakneck reading speed, particularly for games not involving contenders like Rowell and Daicos.
Dillon was buzzing through the St Kilda – Melbourne game, better known as the Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera game, when he read out the words that might alter the future of what has always been considered the most prestigious award an AFL player can win: “St Kilda, N Wanganeen-Milera, two votes.”
The reaction from around the room said it all.
Players are so used to keeping their poker face on during events like this, but Wanganeen-Milera couldn’t help himself, cartoonishly popping his eyes out in disbelief.
His teammate and St Kilda captain Jack Steele’s hands said what his words couldn’t at that point.
Over at the Melbourne table, the Demons burst out into laughter after veteran Demons midfielder Jack Viney, he of 23 disposals and 16 tackles, took home the three votes.
For context, Wanganeen-Milera finished that game with 34 disposals and four goals, and ended the game doing this.
Wanganeen-Milera’s game was so prolific that it was almost instantly regarded as the best individual game of the season and perhaps of this generation. It was so good that Simon Goodwin referenced it in his farewell press conference when he was sacked as Melbourne’s coach just a few weeks later.
The AFL, like its rival sporting codes around the world, stays alive long after the final goal of the season is kicked due to legacy conversations between fans in every corner of Australia.
No matter what the sport is, these conversations all go the same way.
How many premierships have they won? How many All-Australian jackets? How many Norm Smiths? At some point in the conversation comes the inevitable question: How many Brownlows?
Moments like the Nasiah game might alter how these conversations go from now on, because it is clear the Brownlow has lost some of its lustre.
Can we still use the Brownlow as a means by which to decide where players sit on the all-time pyramid? Perhaps not.
It has long been decided that this is an award that only midfielders can win despite some of the game’s most valuable players being those that play in key positions.
Midfielders seemingly having a monopoly on the Brownlow has led to hilariously bloated vote totals in recent years.
Last year, Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps smashed the record by polling 45 votes.
Nick Daicos has now polled 98 votes in the previous three seasons but has not come close to winning the Brownlow Medal. (Getty Images: Michael Willson)
This year’s runner-up, Daicos, has now polled 98 votes in the last three years without really coming close to ever winning the Brownlow.
Daicos’s average of 33 votes over the last three seasons would have won him the Brownlow in all but six seasons under the 3-2-1 voting system.
Noise about whether the voting should be taken off the AFL’s umpires isn’t new, but will feel as intense as ever at league headquarters following the reaction to Wanganeen-Milera’s two-vote game.
In yesteryear, the umpires were permitted to have stat sheets to assist them when deciding which players to award votes to. That is no longer allowed due to integrity concerns surrounding the award following a controversial betting scandal involving a former umpire.
Fans genuinely considered whether umpires had gotten Gold Coast stars Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell confused, such was the bizarre nature of votes awarded in certain Suns games. (Getty Images: Michael Willson)
If stat sheets were available to aid the umpires, it is very likely Rowell would not have taken home the Brownlow this year.
On three separate occasions in the early part of the count, the Suns midfielder took home three votes in games where he didn’t poll a single coaches vote.
It is proof that the disparity between how the umpires see the game and how the coaches see the game has never been greater.
The voting involving Suns games was so confusing at stages that fans on social media genuinely wondered whether umpires had gotten Rowell and fellow Suns midfield dynamo Noah Anderson confused.
It was something that Rowell himself couldn’t help but allude to in his victory speech, as he paid tribute to the impact his best friend, Anderson, has had on his career.
“I think I might’ve pinched a few votes off him that he should’ve got,” Rowell said.
The sad part of the voting controversy is that it takes away from what is undoubtedly the highlight of Rowell’s young career.
The AFL has been waiting on Rowell and the Suns for a few years, but this is further confirmation that both have well and truly arrived.
The way in which Rowell’s victorious count began was similar to how he arrived in the AFL after being taken first overall in the 2019 draft by a floundering Suns side.
Rowell was touted as a future Brownlow winner just a month into his AFL career before a shoulder injury at Kardinia Park dragged his career to a screeching halt.
Rowell was awarded the Brownlow Medal after a career-best season that saw him average 26.3 disposals, 8.6 tackles and 8.2 clearances per game. (Getty Images: Chris Hyde)
The votes at the end of that season showed he’d polled three votes in his second, third and fourth career games, something unseen in a first-year player.
This year he went one better, becoming the first player in league history to poll three votes in each of his first four games.
After Daicos came into the night as the raging hot favourite, this was the first sign that the night wouldn’t go to plan for the Collingwood superstar.
The voting drama shouldn’t take away from what a wonderful footballer Rowell has become, as many predicted five years ago.
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Rowell took some time to recover from the shoulder injury in his debut season, but this year showcased all the traits that made him one of the most hyped top picks heading into the 2019 draft.
He is able to take a game by the scruff of the neck like very few midfielders in the competition can.
You want to stop him? You better have three or four midfielders willing to take on the gargantuan task of denying him when the ball is in the same postcode.
The scary part for the rest of the AFL is that Rowell only seems to be scratching the surface of how good and dominant he can really be.
To take home the Brownlow, you’ve got to have a few things go your way.
You need to be on a team that is decent enough to be in the top eight, unless you’re an all-timer like Gary Ablett Jr.
Matt Rowell polled 39 votes to win the Brownlow Medal ahead of Nick Daicos and Bailey Smith. (Getty Images: Morgan Hancock)
You need to stuff the stat sheet, but that alone isn’t enough. The stats need to be impactful.
This is where Rowell thrives.
When Rowell is having a good game, it is impossible not to feel it, even if you’re just watching the Suns play on TV while sitting in your living room.
Each possession feels impactful and deflates Rowell’s opponents. It is how he is able to take home three votes in games where he’s logged possession tallies in the mid-teens.
In previous generations, the Brownlow Medal was the crowning achievement for a player. It was a sign that you had arrived as one of the game’s elites.
Rowell is one of those, his accolades outside of the Brownlow Medal suggest this.
Sadly, the medal that used to previously rubberstamp a player’s arrival in the upper echelon of the game no longer carries the weight it once did.