Gary Ablett is line to break another statistical milestone in tonight’s AFL Brownlow Medal count.
Ablett has amassed an astonishing 97 Brownlow votes in his four years with the Gold Coast Suns, polling 23-24-28-22 votes in chronological order in 2011-12-13-14 to finish 6th, 6th, 1st and 3rd in the game’s most prestigious individual award.
Although he played only six games in an injury-disrupted 2015 campaign the Suns skipper isn’t without a chance of crashing through the 100 vote barrier.
He polled 31 possessions and kicked three goals in the Round 14 win over North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium, and had 30 possessions in a 22-point loss to Western Bulldogs in Cairns in Round 15 and a 15-point loss to GWS Giants at Metricon in Round 16.
While Charlie Dixon’s club record seven goals might deny Ablett the three votes in Round 14 he could grab two votes against North and a single in either of the other two games.
Ablett, who polled 112 Brownlow votes in 192 games at Geelong prior to heading to the tourist strip, has been the No.1 Brownlow vote-getter in the competition overall since the Suns joined the AFL and has topped the Suns vote count each year.
The aggregate Brownlow leaderboard 2011-14 is:
97 – Gary Ablett (GC)
90 – Dane Swan (Coll)
80 – Sam Mitchell (Haw)
79 – Joel Selwood (Geel)
78 – Trent Cotchin (Rich)
76 – Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
70 – Nat Fyfe (Frem)
70 – Jobe Watson (Ess)
67 – Luke Priddis (WC)
64 – Steve Johnson (Geel)
Others to top 50 votes in the past four years have been Adelaide’s Scott Thompson (60), Sydney’s Buddy Franklin (59) and Josh Kennedy (57) and Brisbane’s Tom Rockliff (53).
Dion Prestia ranks 2nd on the all-time Suns Brownlow list with 22 votes, followed by Harley Bennell (19), David Swallow (9), Tom Lynch (7), Brandon Matera (5), Jaeger O’Meara (5), Jared Brennan (4), Charlie Dixon (4), Steven May (4) and Zac Smith (4).
Others to poll have been Nathan Bock (3), Jarrod Harbrow (3), Michael Rischitelli (3), Sam Day (2), Luke Russell (2), Rory Thompson (2), Campbell Brown (1), Aaron Hall (1), Sam Iles (1), Tom Nicholls (1) and Matt Shaw (1).
Prestia’s 13 votes last year has been the highest single-season total outside the Ablett blitz.
With the majority of Suns votes likely to come tonight in the wins over Brisbane in Rounds 5 and 19 and the Round 14 win over North, plus the Round 18 draw with West Coast, Dixon, May, Lynch and Bennell are likely to fight it out to be the club’s leading vote-getter.
In the 64-point Metricon win over Brisbane in Round 5 Dixon kicked six goals to win the Marcus Ashcroft Medal while Bennell had 31 possessions and kicked two goals.
In the big win over North in Round 14 it was Dixon, Ablett and Aaron Hall, with three goals and 20 possessions, who headed the statistics.
In the 14-point win over Brisbane in Round 19 Lynch (five goals) nudged out Hall (28 possessions) for the Ashcroft Medal. Tom Rockliff (32poss) and Pearce Hanley (31poss) led the way for the Lions.
And in the draw against grand finalists West Coast in Round 19, Bennell had 28 possessions and Lynch kicked four goals for the Suns whie Luke Priddis (34poss), Luke Shuey (33poss) and Chris Masten (31poss) for the Eagles.
While May didn’t figure so prominently in these games from a statistical viewpoint he did head the aggregate Suns Club Championship votes in these games. He polled 51 votes from Lynch (42), Kade Kolodjashnij (42) and Dixon (40).
The match committee voted Dixon best with 19 votes from Kolodjashnij (15) and Adam Saad (15) in Round 5.
In Round 14 it was Dixon (18) from Kolodjashnij (16), May (15) and Ablett (15).
In Round 19 it was Lynch (18) from Hall (15) and May (14). And in Round 18 it was May (17) from Lynch (13) and Kolodjashnij (11).
In other individual performances which earned 15 B&F votes or more and could figure in Brownlow consideration, Lynch polled 18 votes against Adelaide in Round 17, and Ablett polled 17 votes against GWS in Round 16. May had 15 votes against Richmond in Round 20, Rischitelli 15 votes against Geelong in Round 3, and Alex Sexton 16 votes against Adelaide in Round 6.
