West Coast Eagle Matt Priddis pulled off a surprise upset to win Monday night’s Brownlow Medal honour.
Priddis collected 26 votes to become the first Brownlow winner to miss out on an All-Australian nod since Melbourne’s Shane Woewodin in 2000.
The 29-year-old topped the ineligible Nat Fyfe, suspended twice for a total of four games this season, by a single vote and both Gary Ablett and Lance Franklin, tied for third with 22 votes each. Favourite Joel Selwood finished with 21 votes along with Josh Kennedy, Travis Boak and Patrick Dangerfield.
“To be honest with you, I was probably a little bit embarrassed. I never quite see myself at this sort of level,” an astonished Priddis said.
“Obviously it’s not taking away from how honoured I am, but there are so many fantastic players in the competition who I thought were going to win.”
Priddis is the third West Coast Eagle to take out the AFL’s top individual honour after Chris Judd and Ben Cousins following a season in which he ranked as the league’s fourth highest disposal getter (28.5 per game), third in clearances and fourth in tackles.
“I’m a pretty shy kinda guy, I don’t see myself in the likes of Brownlow Medallists in the past,” Priddis said after receiving his medal.
“I was never going to give up, it was a childhood dream. I always wanted to play at the highest possible level.
“Luckily, West Coast helped me realise that dream.”
One of the AFL’s original mature age recruits, West Coast picked up a 20-year-old Priddis in the 2005 Rookie Draft after going unselected in the previous four national drafts.
“We’re ecstatic – what a fantastic effort,” coach Adam Simpson said of Priddis’ win.
“It’s not just one out-of-the-blue year.
“It’s 10-plus years almost of continuous effort and I know you got overlooked for the All-Australian mate, but I think you’ll cop this one.”
Gary Ablett dominated the vote count until round 15 but fell off the pace thanks to season-ending shoulder injury sustained a week later, falling short of becoming just the fifth player to win the award three times.
Priddis is the first Brownlow winner to poll less than 28 votes since Adam Cooney won with 24 in 2008.
Photo: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
