Fyfe’s incredible first half of the year allowed him to poll enough votes to ward off a late challenge from West Coast’s Matt Priddis.
The 2015 Brownlow Medalist, Nat Fyfe, stepped onto the red carpet with a walking stick after playing with a fractured leg on the weekend, and memes followed.
Fyfe walking the #Brownlow red carpet like… pic.twitter.com/2yghIJqQB1
— The Wolf (@WillHillWolf) September 28, 2015
Gee whiz Nat Fyfe is pulling off that walking stick! Looks like he’s just waltzed out of The Great Gatsby 👌#SwisseRedCarpet #Brownlow2015 — Peppe Cavalieri (@PepCavalieri) September 28, 2015
Fyfe said he doesn’t regret his decision to play injured against Hawthorn on Friday night.
“Once you declare yourself fit to play, you have an obligation to play,” he said to Bruce McAvaney.
“I live and die the Dockers, and I want to do anything I can to help.” Fyfe has been favourite to win the award for months.
He was followed by Priddis, Patrick Dangerfield and Sam Mitchell in the betting odds. Priddis watched the Brownlow proceedings from Perth, as West Coast aren’t flying into Melbourne until later in the week.
Priddis was at Crown last year to receive his medal, however the Eagles finished outside the top eight. Although Patrick Dangerfield announced this week he’d be leaving Adelaide, the Crows still welcomed him at their table.
No sign of the bread roll and Patty’s not happy #brownlow but our table is all ready for the votes 3⃣2⃣1⃣ pic.twitter.com/QmAH6dpg38 — Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) September 28, 2015
Dangerfield entered the count as a potential winner, after winning Adelaide’s Best and Fairest for consistently starring in the midfield, particularly in the second half of the year.
While he was his club’s highest vote receiver, Dangerfield didn’t get into the top five at the end of the night. No favourites polled in the opening round of votes.
Priddis, Dangerfield and Goldstein all earned their first votes in round 2. After calling the first round’s votes too quickly, AFL’s Chief Executive Officer Gil McLaughlin took advice from Twitter users and took on a more Demetriou-esque approach as voting got tighter.
Well the good news is, Gil is going to have this thing wrapped up by 9:00… #Brownlow — Sportsbet.com.au (@sportsbetcomau) September 28, 2015
Priddis came second, polling 28 votes. His Eagles teammate, Andrew Gaff, ruled out Priddis as a back to back Brownlow Medalist, saying the depth of the Eagles lineup would result in players stealing votes off each other. But Priddis was still a chance until the second last round. After polling no votes, it was clear Fyfe would be the sole winner of the medal.
Round 5 vs GWS: A.Gaff 1 vote. E.Yeo 2 votes. J.Kennedy 3 votes. #goeagles pic.twitter.com/oOGn36V5YZ — West Coast Eagles (@WestCoastEagles) September 28, 2015
#Brownlow Medal (top three after round six): Nat Fyfe (11 votes), Dan Hannebery (9), J Steven (8). — ABC Grandstand (@abcgrandstand) September 28, 2015
After round 7, Fyfe had already polled 14 votes. He led strongly and polled in all of the rounds he was expected to.
With 17 votes after round 8, Fyfe broke Brownlow history with the highest number of votes following this round. The previous record holder before him was dual medalist, Chris Judd, who attended the count this year for the last time as a player.
She’s batting way above her average… #Brownlow pic.twitter.com/ZbKzo1pAPA — Chris Judd (@cjayfive) September 28, 2015
Judd still holds another remarkable record. He finishes his career polling the third most votes in Brownlow history.
Fyfe 17 from a possible 24. Better strike rate than Glenn Maxwell. And 17 votes is what Dipper/Diesel won with in 1986. #Brownlow — Adam Collins (@collinsadam) September 28, 2015
With Fyfe polling this highly, after 10 rounds, the Brownlow leaderboard numbers were at record highs. Hannebery, Priddis and Mitchell were all placed as serious medal contenders, but still trailed behind Fyfe. All four leaders were unsurprisingly included in this year’s All Australian side.
Another BOG to Hanners in Round 10 v Suns. Keeps our man in touch with Fyfe. Tommy (2) and Jetts (1) also poll #Brownlow — Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) September 28, 2015
From Round 4 to Round 9, Nat Fyfe polled 17 of a possible 18 votes. #Brownlow — Adam White (@White_Adam) September 28, 2015
The conversation all night was whether or not Fyfe had enough votes to make up for missing four rounds of footy due to injury. After round 13, Fyfe had 26 votes – the same number Priddis won with last year. A win from Fyfe began to look unlikely as Priddis started to play catch-up, and the potential games for the Docker to poll in began to dry up.
Fyfe didn’t rate his chances when interviewed after round 15 votes were read out. “I think I’m dusted from here,” he said to Cameron Ling.
However, Fyfe continued to hold the lead at 29 votes. He scored two votes in round 17, which began to make him more of a certainty to win Charlie. No one in Brownlow Medal history has scored 31 votes and not gone on to win.
Don’t think I’d be telling a furphy by calling Fyfe the winner from here; but crazier things have happened! #Brownlow pic.twitter.com/EcZJleJFwJ — Brodie Young (@brodieyoung) September 28, 2015
Fyfe’s last shot to poll came in round 20. This gave Priddis the chance to catch up, but his continuous polling of two votes in the final rounds was not enough to get him over the line.
Fyfe didn’t score in the last game he was predicated to score in, leaving the door open for Priddis to possibly tie with the Docker.
But Priddis had to earn maximum votes in two of the last three games to be eligible to draw for the Brownlow Medal with Fyfe. Many began speculating that a draw was on the cards.
Matt Priddis has good games in Round 21 and 23, and is just six votes behind leader Nat Fyfe #Brownlow – we’re set for a thrilling finish! — Channel 7 (@Channel7) September 28, 2015
CONGRATULATIONS! Nat Fyfe the first ever Freo Docker to win the #Brownlow — Fremantle Dockers (@freodockers) September 28, 2015
Ultimately, the star midfielder put his win down to the talent of his club and his coach. Fyfe’s win makes him the first player in 50 years to win the Brownlow despite missing four games.
“This genuinely is a Fremantle footy club medal tonight,” Fyfe said.
Johanna Brasier is a third-year Bachelor of Journalism student at La Trobe University and the current Sport Editor of upstart. You can follow her on Twitter: @JohannaBrasier. Lauren Bordin is a third-year Bachelor of Journalism (Sport) student at La Trobe University. You can follow her on Twitter: @laurenbordin.
