Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett firms to $1.75 favourite to win Brownlow medal

GARY Ablett has firmed to odds-on to collect his second Brownlow Medal after his best-afield performance against Greater Western Sydney.

Ablett

GARY Ablett has firmed to odds-on to collect his second Brownlow Medal after his best-afield performance against Greater Western Sydney.

The odds on the 2009 winner were immediately cut from $2.40 to $1.75.

Ablett was $1.30 seven weeks ago but TAB's media manager Adam Hamilton said the Gold Coast skipper was unlikely to have registered a vote since, until his timely final-round blitz.

"We think his three-vote performance will win him the medal," Hamilton said.

"Unbelievably, Geelong's Joel Selwood would have gone into the count as favourite had he earned three votes in the final round and Ablett missed out. But, as it turned out, Ablett gets the three votes and Selwood misses out, so he has drifted from $2.60 to $3.50.

"We felt they were absolute head-to-head in the Brownlow count coming into the final round, so this is a huge win for Ablett."

Hamilton said TAB had been keeping a close watch on Western Bulldog Ryan Griffin, who was $500 early in the season but now $21.

"It seemed every time the Bulldogs won he was a key, so he could grab a lot of three votes and be a genuine chance," Hamilton said.