Loading

Gold Coast Suns star Matt Rowell won this season’s Brownlow Medal in stunning scenes at Melbourne’s Crown casino on Monday night, but the occasion will also be remembered for a voting howler in the game of the year.

The top pick in the 2019 national draft, Rowell, now 24, started the night like a freight train – polling a perfect 12 votes from his first four matches of the season (a record) and taking a commanding early lead over the likes of last year’s runner-up and Collingwood favourite son Nick Daicos, Geelong star Bailey Smith, and Adelaide skipper Jordan Dawson.

Daicos, in particular, pushed Rowell in the closing rounds of the count, but the hard-nosed Suns midfielder won by seven with 39 votes. It was the second-highest tally ever, behind only Patrick Cripps’ 45 votes las

See Full Page