1994: The year the Brownlow changed

Many in the media lament that a Todd Goldstein or Lance Franklin can put up a good showing in the Brownlow Medal but cannot be genuine contenders to win the award because they are not midfielders.

Ignoring the fact that non-midfielders generally don’t win any of the media or industry awards, it is a sore point for many who think that the most prestigious award in the game should recognise the best player in the game regardless of their position on the ground.

In my youth, Tony Lockett won a Brownlow from full-forward, followed by ruckmen Jim Stynes and Scott Wynd, and back pocket Gavin Wanganeen.

In the years preceding Lockett’s breakthrough Brad Hardie won from a back pocket, Peter Moore won two while rucking, Ross Glendenning won playing centre half back, and Bernie Quinlan and Kelvin Templeton won while playing in a key position.

In fact if you were at the coalface it may have been a impediment to winning, as the two best midfielders of the 1970s, Leigh Matthews and Kevin Bartlett, never managed to win the award.

Then everything changed in 1994. Since then every award has been won by a midfielder with the possible exception of Adam Goodes in 2003, who played a similar role and way to Stynes in 1991 as a ruckman/follower.

Something else changed in 1994. In 1986 Greg Williams and Robert Dipierdomenico shared the award with 17 votes each, and Tony Liberatore won with 18 in 1990.

The winning vote total in 1994 was 30, obtained by Greg Williams in his second medal win. Since then 17-18 votes has been lucky to get you into the top ten.

Robert Harvey’s second winning total was 32, that record was bettered by Dane Swan’s 34 votes in 2011, and last night Patrick Dangerfield polled 35 votes.

In the 23 Brownlows from 1994-2016, only James Hird and Michael Voss in 1996 and Ben Cousins in 2005 have won the medal polling fewer than 22 votes. Eleven Brownlows have been won with totals of at least 26 votes.

So what changed in 1994? Let’s take a look back before looking forward.

In 1989 Paul Couch won with 22 votes, a total that would have won him a Brownlow in each of the four years preceding it.

You have to dig deeper into the numbers from that year to see how things have changed. North Melbourne had a player named Darren Harris who was a key position player/ruckman. He played the first two games in 1989, and in North Melbourne’s two-point win in Round 1 against Geelong, Harris had nine kicks, four marks, two handpasses, ten hitouts and a goal. And three Brownlow votes.

In the same game eventual winner Paul Couch had 21 kicks, 12 handpasses and kicked two goals. He did not poll a Brownlow vote. Harris would play the next week but no more senior games in 1989. His career finished after 1991 with 51 career games.

Some other household names to poll three votes in 1989’s Brownlow: Murray Wrensted, Jim Wynd, Peter Bourke, Simon Verbeek and Zeno Tzatzaris, who played 34 games across seven seasons and never more than ten in a single season.

In 1989 201 different players polled a Brownlow vote.

In 2014 that number was 205. That’s an increase, you say, and you are right. But in 1989 there were 14 teams and 154 total games.

In 2014 there were four more teams and 44 more games, and 264 more Brownlow votes on offer. So with 29 per cent more votes, games and teams on offer, the increase in the number of players getting a vote was two per cent.

In 1993 a status quo prevailed in the Brownlow Medal. You could win the award as a ruckman or an attacking defender, or if you had a particularly special season, a key position player. You could win with around a vote per game – 22 votes for a 22 game season. Now that’s just not true, and it’s because of what happened in 1994.

So what was the change? The AFL introduced a third field umpire.

Think about the discussion in the umpire’s rooms at the MCG at the end of that April Sunday afternoon in 1989. The two umpires had both officiated less than 50 games.

Geelong had jumped out to an early lead only to be reined in by half time, and the second half was open but the score was tight. Darren Harris had had ten hitouts out of 39 total recorded between the two teams on the day.

Perhaps one umpire rated Harris’ performance more than the other. Perhaps the more experienced man won the argument. The three men to poll that day had 42 disposals between them. The two teams totalled 581 disposals for the match – and 35 goals.

Now put a third umpire in the room. If that umpire thought that the three votes should have gone to someone else (North Melbourne’s leading possession winner on the day was Jim Krakouer, who had 26 disposals and three goals, while Geelong’s was the aforementioned Couch). A difference of opinion between two individuals can perhaps never be resolved. When three are involved you get the majority rule.

Quite simply there is less diversity of opinion in the votes these days. Having three men decide on the votes reduces that diversity, to a point where Patrick Dangerfield perhaps polled every vote he should have. No longer do we get the perplexing ‘Darren Harris’ type three-vote performance.

Does that leave the Brownlow lesser for this? Perhaps. It certainly takes away from the uncertainty of the night, and the enjoyment of the votes being read out. It means that all-time greats like Franklin and Riewoldt have little chance of winning the award.

And it means we’re less likely to have a story on the night like Dipper who “only came for the free feed” or Libba and his paisley tie. And that’s a shame.