Gold Coast champion Gary Ablett's win makes him arguably the most decorated footballer in history

GARY Ablett Junior long ago proved his greatness as the son, but this Brownlow puts the official seal on his greatness as a Sun.

Gaz and McKenna

GARY Ablett Junior long ago proved his greatness as the son, but this Brownlow puts the official seal on his greatness as a Sun.

When Ablett quit the Surf Coast for the Gold Coast at the end of 2010, he steadfastly maintained that it was as much about finding a fresh challenge as it was about picking up an extra dollar.

"I guess I want to get up there and prove myself as a leader and do the best I possibly can," Ablett told the Herald Sun at the time.

A second Brownlow, three consecutive All Australian selections, three club best-and-fairest awards and three Leigh Matthews trophies for most valuable player attest that he has risen to that challenge.

Brownlow Medal red carpet GALLERY

Ablett polled three votes for his dominant display against Greater Western Sydney in the final round to pip his close friend and former teammate Joel Selwood by one vote.

"I'm shattered that I got the three in the last round," Ablett said. "Joel deserves to be up here just as much as I do."

Ablett became just the fifth man to win a Brownlow at his second AFL club. He joined Ian Stewart (St Kilda and Richmond), Peter Moore (Collingwood and Melbourne), Greg Williams (Sydney and Carlton) and Chris Judd (West Coast and Carlton) as footballers to have achieved the feat.

He is also the 14th multiple winner of the medal, which was first presented in 1924.

Ablett mounted his charge from Round 7, polling 16 of a possible 18 votes over the next six matches including best afields against Melbourne, the Bulldogs, Hawthorn and North Melbourne. That took him to 20 votes, equalling the best tally from the first 12 matches in a Brownlow count.

The pivotal vote came when he polled one in the Round 16 loss to Richmond - a match in which his opponent Daniel Jackson picked up three.

This count was the third time Ablett has polled at least 25 votes on Brownlow night, and in the previous two seasons Ablett had polled 47 votes, seven times more than the next best Suns player.

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Ablett's medal caps a break-out season for the three-year-old Gold Coast, which also produced Rising Star winner Jaeger O'Meara. Another Sun, ruckman Zac Smith was announced the winner of the second annual Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award during last night's function.

Ablett becomes the first medallist to win from a team that finished lower than 12th on the ladder, with the Suns' eight wins this season placing them 14th.

But he hopes that dynamic is about to change, saying during his acceptance speech: "I'm hoping we can win a premiership before my time is up."

Gaz with Watson

Earlier in the evening Ablett told his former teammate Cameron Ling: "I am loving it up there, you know, I'm loving working with new people. We've got a talented group and they're all ripper guys."

He paid tribute to coach Guy McKenna and his assistants, including former mentor and now Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley, who told him that he would need to be patient with the development of the young Goad Coast players.

"He told me to to have patience and it will happen eventually," Ablett said.

Ablett said he would ring his father after the function, adding: "Now that I've got two (medals) I guess I can give him one."

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He said the comparisons with his famous father still wore thin, because Gary senior was the best footballer he had ever seen play the game.

He will have t wait longer before he can show the medal to his mother Sue, because she is on her honeymoon in Europe, "so I'll probably struggle to get on to her".

Ablett, who has become more attentive to religion in recent months, ended his speech by saying: "I want to thank God, because without him I couldn't be up here tonight".

Gaz and McKenna

The 2013 Brownlow stamps Ablett as arguably the most decorated footballer in AFL history, with two premierships, two Brownlows, seven All Australian gongs and a record five AFLPA most valuable players awards. The two most significant individual trophies to have eluded him are the Norm Smith and John Coleman medals.

But given the Suns' potential and the fact that Ablett looks destined to end his career as a permanent forward, it is not inconceivable that he could yet snare one or both of those medals in coming years.