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The Brownlow Medal is Geelong’s, but it was not the Cat most expected.
Is a Brownlow Medal win a burden or a blessing in grand final week?
Midfielder Jimmy Bartel beat team-mate and hot favourite Gary Ablett to the AFL’s most coveted award on Monday night and continue the theme of 2007 being the year of the Cat.
Bartel, the fifth favourite entering the count, polled 29 votes despite missing the last two games of the regular season after having his appendix removed.
Brisbane’s Simon Black, Kangaroo Brent Harvey and West Coast’s Daniel Kerr (ineligible) finished equal second on 22 votes, while Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell polled 21.
Ablett, the pre-count favourite, finished on 20 votes, along with last year’s winner Adam Goodes of Sydney and Collingwood’s Dane Swan.
Bartel, 23, is Geelong’s fifth Brownlow winner and the first since Paul Couch in 1989, and has the chance to cap his superb season by winning a premiership medal in Saturday’s grand final against Port Adelaide at the MCG.
The onballer, who this year went from very good player to one of the game’s superstars, trailed Black for most of the count but hit the front with a three-vote game against Richmond in round 18.
He then sealed victory when he polled another three in the round 20 win over the Kangaroos, which put him out of reach.
Bartel and Ablett sat beside each other throughout the count and looked nervous throughout, and the winner was lost for words when presented with his medal.
“Off the top it’s pretty hard, I’m trying not to shake up here,” he said.
“It’s been interesting all night, we’ve (he and Ablett) been having a bit of a laugh.
“He did very well, but I definitely saw him up here instead of myself.”
Bartel thanked his Geelong teammates and coaches, his family, his home club of Bell Park – a Geelong suburb – and his Danish girlfriend, who is at home and will not be in Melbourne to watch the grand final.
“I don’t think she knows what the grand final is,” he said.
Bartel said he’s $50 out of pocket for his success.
“All clubs, you do your own mock Brownlow count and I had a $50 bet with (team-mate) Stevie Johnson that I would get under 10 votes,” he said.
“I think I owe him 50 big ones, as he reminded me as I got up.”
The last two Brownlow Medallists – Sydney’s Adam Goodes last year and Ben Cousins of West Coast the year before – were losing grand finalists the following weekend.
The other piece of history that Bartel has to overcome is that the last Geelong Brownlow Medallist was Paul Couch in 1989 – the year the Cats lost a classic grand final to Hawthorn.
Bartel’s victory continued a season of dominance for the Cats, who posted a winning streak of 15 games, easily won the minor premiership, won the Rising Star award (Joel Selwood) and then had nine players recognised as All-Australians.
Although the count lacked the dramatic finish of some reason polls, it produced some notable efforts.
Bartel, Ablett and Joel Corey (12) polled between them 61 votes, a record for three players from the one side, which illustrated the brilliance of the Cats’ midfield.
Geelong also broke their club record of 103 votes (1991), by polling 106 across all players.
* Players who have won the Brownlow Medal and then played in the VFL/AFL grand final in the same season:
1926 Ivor Warne-Smith Melbourne premier
1927 Syd Coventry Collingwood premier
1929 Albert Collier Collingwood premier
1930 Harry Collier Collingwood premier
1939 Marcus Whelan Collingwood runner-up
1946 Don Cordner Melbourne runner-up
1947 Bert Deacon Melbourne premier
1951 Bernie Smith Geelong premier
1965 Ian Stewart St Kilda runner-up
1966 Ian Stewart St Kilda premier
1974 Keith Greig North Melbourne runner-up
1978 Malcolm Blight North Melbourne runner-up
1979 Peter Moore Collingwood runner-up
1986 Robert DiPierdomenico Hawthorn premier
1987 John Platten Hawthorn runner-up
1989 Paul Couch Geelong runner-up
1993 Gavin Wanganeen Essendon premier
1997 Robert Harvey St Kilda runner-up
2000 Shane Woewodin Melbourne runner-up
2001 Jason Akermanis Brisbane Lions premier
2002 Simon Black Brisbane Lions premier
2003 Nathan Buckley Collingwood runner-up
2005 Ben Cousins West Coast runner-up
2006 Adam Goodes Sydney runner-up
2007 Jimmy Bartel Geelong ?
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