Gary Ablett claimed his second Brownlow Medal on Monday night, defeating Joel Selwood for the honour of the AFL’s top player of the 2013 season.
Ablett tallied 28 votes, one more than former Geelong teammate Joel Selwood after grabbing three votes for his 33-possession, four-goal effort in the final round 23 contest of the season against GWS.
Selwood led heading into the final round of tallying, but didn’t register a vote from Geelong’s last match of the home and away season- a one-point win over the Lions at Skoda Stadium- setting up the 29-year-old Ablett to collect his second Brownlow and first in Gold Coast club history.
Ablett led for much of the night, but also got over the line ahead of Collingwood’s Dane Swan, who also failed to poll after collecting 26 votes from the first 22 rounds of the season.
A humble Gary Ablett said he would have preferred to share the award with his former teammate.
“I was actually shattered when I got the three (votes in the final round) – because Joel deserves to be up here just as much as I do,” Ablett said.
“He’s a very good friend and a fantastic leader.”
Ablett amassed an amazing 13 games with 30 or more possessions in 2013, including a 49-touch, two-goal effort against the Magpies in round 17, and finished the season averaging a league-high 31.2 possessions per game while chipping in a goal per contest.
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Quinn Rooney, Getty Images.
