Gary Ablett’s push for a third Brownlow Medal will have to wait another twelve months, with the Gold Coast captain falling short in tonight’s count to West Coast’s Matt Priddis.
Ablett would have joined an exalted club of just four current members with three Brownlows to their name if he had won, but his chances of adding to his bulging trophy cabinet took a serious hit when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Collingwood in round 16.
He polled in nine of his 15 matches played, including five best on-field performances against Richmond (Rd 1), Brisbane (Rd 3), Melbourne (Rd 5), Greater Western Sydney (Rd 6) and St Kilda (Rd 9).
Ablett would go on to finish equal runner-up with 22 votes alongside Sydney’s Lance Franklin.
Remarkably, Ablett still had his grip on top spot at the round 19 change, with his final 22 votes still the most active on the leader board.
Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe did manage to overtake the superstar midfielder, but was ineligible to claim the award after two stints of suspension.
Brownlow medal winner, Priddis ultimately took the reigns on the leader board and didn’t look back, polling the eventual winning tally of 26 votes.
No player had previously won a Brownlow when missing more than three games in a season, and the break was too much of a mountain to climb for the GC SUNS skipper.
Ablett needed everything to fall his way, and despite mounting a strong charge in the early rounds, wasn’t able to build an unassailable lead at round sixteen.
In a promising sign of things to come, young SUNS Dion Prestia, David Swallow, Steven May, Tom Lynch and Harley Bennell all polled votes on Monday night.
Excitingly, Prestia cracked into the double digits with a total of 13 votes.
Nonetheless, Ablett elevated his game to another level in 2014, averaging 32 disposals and eight clearances before injury cruelled his 13th season in the AFL.
It has still been a busy awards season for Ablett, with his peers voting him second to Fremantle’s Nathan Fyfe in the Most Valuable Player voting.
He was also named on the All-Australian team last Tuesday night, becoming the first player to earn eight consecutive All-Australian guernseys.
2014 Brownlow Medal Leaderboard
1. Matt Priddis – 26 votes
2. *Nathan Fyfe – 25 votes
3. Gary Ablett – 22 votes
3. Lance Franklin – 22 votes
5. Travis Boak – 21 votes
5. Patrick Dangerfield – 21 votes
5. Josh Kennedy – 21 votes
5. Joel Selwood – 21 votes
5. *Steve Johnson – 21 votes
10. Trent Cotchin - 18 votes
*ineligible
GC SUNS Brownlow Leaderboard
3rd - Gary Ablett – 22
20th - Dion Prestia – 13
67th - Harley Bennell – 6
80th - David Swallow – 5
96th - Tom Lynch – 4
113th - Steven May – 3
137th - Sam Day – 2
165th - Jaeger O'Meara – 1
165th - Michael Rischitelli – 1
