The speculation over the future of Jobe Watson’s Brownlow Medal will finally be put to bed when the AFL Commission holds a meeting next month.
After months and months of conjecture about whether the former Essendon skipper will be allowed to keep the award for the competition’s best and fairest player, the AFL announced the Commission will meet on November 15.
The date for the meeting was confirmed following the news that the Swiss Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeal of the 34 current and former Bombers against the bans handed down by the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) earlier this year.
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan released a statement on the Commission meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
“The AFL accepts and acknowledges this tribunal ruling and the AFL Commission repeats the statement it made when the CAS finding was handed down in January earlier this year – the AFL is fully committed to clean sport, for the sake of all players from all clubs in our competition,” the statement read.
“The final decision by the Federal Tribunal means that the AFL Commission must now consider the matter of the Brownlow Medal, which was won by Jobe Watson for the 2012 season.
“As stated earlier this year, it is the AFL’s view that the AFL Commission must determine this matter.”
The dismissal of the Bombers’ players appeal has made it likely for Watson to be stripped of his 2012 Brownlow Medal, given the offences for which he and the other 33 Bombers were suspended for took place that year.
If the medal is stripped by the AFL Commission, it will likely be awarded instead to the joint runners-up from 2012, Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell and Richmond’s Trent Cotchin.
The timing of the meeting – more than a month after its announcement – has raised some eyebrows, but McGlachlan’s statement defended the month-long lead-up to the fateful day.
“The next Commission meeting in November will provide the appropriate amount of time for all relevant parties to prepare.”
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