Brownlow Medal 2020 plans revealed as Victoria’s second wave sees ceremony moved to Gold Coast
Footy’s night of nights is one usually centred around its infamous red carpet and star-studded ceremony at Crown Palladium — but this year is anything but usual. Here’s how the Brownlow has been forced to follow suit.
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Confucius, he say, is Brownlow really Brownlow with no red carpet?
The ruby rug razzle-dazzle before the Brownlow count has been dropped for the first time since we saw THAT red dress worn by then Rebecca Twigley.
Or as one senior AFL executive told us, “There won’t be all that big red-carpet hullabaloo”.
WAGs (significant others is just such a mouthful) spend months preparing their look with stylists.
But the Brownlow has moved to the Goldy, and Hamish McLachlan — after being crowned as compere last year by Bruce McAvaney — will not even be at the event.
With commitments to cover the Cox Plate and then the Grand Final that night, Hammer just can’t get up there in time to self-isolate.
Instead, says Seven, he will be hosting the Brownlow count from their Melbourne studios.
The “hybrid” event will be a logistic miracle if it comes together. TV cameras will be set up at multiple locations and player hubs for crosses to “virtual interviews” with McLachlan as the count gets underway.
McAvaney, who lives in Adelaide, can get to Queensland for the finals without having to isolate under current restrictions between South Australia and Queensland. But will Brian Taylor get to the Sunshine State in time from Melbourne?
If he does, he won’t be kicking back at the Gold Coast’s Mercure Hotel AFL hub, which is costing the code about $4m a week.
BT and anyone else who gets permission to attend the finals will have to self-isolate like the rest of us “in some hotel doing push-ups at the end of the bed”, says one AFL insider.
The Brownlow will be a small-scale event at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
WAGS are locked down in player hubs and there will be no team of hairstylists and make-up artists to get them match-ready.
It’s also not a good look and could be seen as frivolous, says celebrity stylist Lana Wilkinson.
Stylist to every ‘significant other’, from Brit Selwood, Jordan Ablett and Jessie Murphy to Belinda Stone, Wilkinson says she usually spends months in the lead-up to Brownlow night working with her clients and designers.
A general no-frills consensus has been reached.
“I think we are just going to park it this year and then go hell for leather and blow it out of the water in 2021 when it’s back in Melbourne,” Wilkinson said.
One thing we can safely say is there will be no WAG-on-wheel or after-party at Hollywood Showgirls.
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