Brownlow Medal 2019: Nat Fyfe wins thrilling count on footy's night of nights

Nat Fyfe has become the 15th player to win multiple Brownlow Medals after running away with a huge lead late in the count. However, without some choice words from his former coach, it could have been very different.  

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Nat Fyfe has credited a sledge from Ross Lyon that he was “cruising” and a chance meeting with a Pilates instructor at a Fremantle café for leading him to his second Brownlow Medal in five years.

Fyfe became just the 10th Brownlow Medal winner to poll 30 or more votes in a season under the current voting system, logging 33 votes – two more than he did in 2015.

The Fremantle captain labelled 2019 his “best year so far”, believing he was able to impact in all 20 games that he played after staying free of soft tissue injuries.

After missing six games with a serious hamstring injury last year, Fyfe was approached by a “spiritual” Pilates instructor by the name of Trudy last July and was offered free one-on-one Pilates lessons which he took up.

“My No.1 goal coming in was to play all season and I had an amazing pilates instructor, Trudy, who found me in the street a week after I tore my hamstring last year and said, ‘You need to come and see me’,” Fyfe said.

“She came up to me and was a bit of a spiritual person and said, ‘I had this inkling you were going to hurt yourself last week’ and I said, ‘Where were you then?’.”

“Two hours a week, every week since November last year (I worked with her) and I got through the year with no soft tissue. I played every game bar two, which I had concussion and my elbow. But that becomes the blueprint for me the next two or three years.

Nat Fyfe after winning the 2019 Brownlow Medal. Picture: Getty Images

“I tried it for a month and 10 or 11 months later I sit here as a Brownlow medallist so I’m incredibly grateful for her.”

Fyfe said former Dockers coach Lyon had also been a key part of his development both as a player and captain and had challenged him again this year.

“As recently as last year, about December, I was just going through the motions with my training and preparation with the idea of playing more footy towards the back end of the season,” Fyfe said.

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“He challenged me to say, ‘You’re cruising, I don’t think how you’re performing and preparing at training is up to standard, I think you’ve got more in you’. That was a spark to really get going.”

Fyfe said an elbow injury he carried throughout much of the year – which led to him wearing a sleeve on his right arm – had also challenged him and would continue to.

“It bothered me on a couple of games,” Fyfe said.

SEE EVERY VOTE AND RECAP THE COUNT BELOW

“When I landed heavily on my elbow it would flare up, fill up with fluid, to the point where in the Hawthorn game (Round 17) I landed on it quite heavily and was getting some contact to it and I ended up getting an infection with it during the week. So I don’t think I’m completely out of the woods with it yet. The sleeve helped a fair bit, but it’s probably going to be something I’ll have to juggle for probably the next six months.”

Having turned 28 years old just last week, Fyfe could yet become a three-time Brownlow Medal winner.

However, the 2015 and 2019 winner said he was “jealous” of the two teams that were playing in this week’s Grand Final and was striving to be a premiership captain far more.

“The Brownlow’s a weird one because I don’t have a premiership medal,” Fyfe said.

Nat Fyfe with his second Brownlow Medal.

“So I’d hate to be sitting here at the end of my career with two or maybe three Brownlow’s and no premiership. I’d trade these in in a heartbeat for the opportunity just to play in another Grand Final.”

In an exciting count, which was decided in Round 21, Geelong midfielder Patrick Dangerfield finished second on 27 votes, with Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps and Brisbane midfielder Lachie Neale tying for third place on 26 votes.  Cripps bolted out of the blocks, polling a record 13 votes in the first five rounds.

Fyfe, who has been Fremantle captain since 2017, polled a remarkable 20 votes to Round 11 and finished the night having earn votes in 12 of a possible 20 games after missing two matches through injury.  

The second-ranked midfielder in the AFL this year, he averaged 120 SuperCoach points and was crowned All-Australian captain.

The Fremantle superstar couldn't be caught after Round 21, when he polled three votes against St Kilda to take his tally to 33 - seven votes clear of Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps, who was in second position at the time.

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Dangerfield, who won the award in 2016 and had entered the night as favourite, finished in a flurry with eight votes from the final three rounds – but it was too little, too late.

Second-year Geelong sensation Tim Kelly recorded a top-five finish with 24 votes, including seven best on grounds.

Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy, the top-ranked player in the competition by Champion Data this year, placed sixth with 23 votes.

Recap the news and reaction in our live blog below.

Originally published as Brownlow Medal 2019: Nat Fyfe wins thrilling count on footy's night of nights

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