Brownlow favourite Chris Judd fails to shine

FOR the second year in a row, Chris Judd produced a surprise Brownlow Medal result.

Chris Judd

FOR the second year in a row, Chris Judd produced a surprise Brownlow Medal result.

After delivering one of the biggest shocks in a decade when he won last year, last night the Carlton captain was largely overlooked.

Judd was a $1.75 favourite last week, and widely declared a shoe-in to win his third league best-and-fairest.

But the midfield superstar knew early on he could toss away the winner's speech and begin sipping on the Crownies.

A late hot streak eventually catapulted him into sixth position, polling 23 votes.

It was the fifth time in 10 seasons that he registered 20 votes or more.

But he was not the umpires' pet, as he is affectionately dubbed, last night.

Certainly, his tally did not reflect the season we all thought he had, considering he was declared a runaway winner of the AFL Players' Association MVP by 891 votes over Magpie Scott Pendlebury.

But the players' award has been something of a Brownlow jinx in recent times and so it proved last night.

Judd's hopes were essentially gone by Round 14.

At that stage, he had only seven votes, 10 behind the ineligible leader at that point Sam Mitchell.

Dane Swan had already returned from Arizona and fired the jets.

Judd's teammate Marc Murphy, who was also another highly-fancied front-runner, finished with 19 votes.

The late money suggested something was up with Judd, as he slid out to $2.10 as the count began.

Last year, Swan was the odds-on pick who watched Judd win at $21.