Jobe Watson did the honourable thing handing back his Brownlow Medal

COMMENT: NOBODY in our game has ever felt the amount of pressure Jobe Watson has been under for the past four years. How he responded reveals a lot, writes SAM LANDSBERGER.

Picture: Getty Images

IN one swift act, Jobe Watson has rescinded his title as a Brownlow Medallist yet propelled his standing in the game.

And perhaps Jobe should be offered a Panadol sponsorship next season, because this noble act has spared the AFL Commission one almighty headache.

Under an amount of pressure and scrutiny nobody in our game has ever known, Watson has shown nothing but class.

MEDAL RETURN: JOBE GIVES BROWNLOW BACK

FULL STATEMENT: WHY IS JOBE GIVING HIS MEDAL BACK?

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When league bosses converge on Tuesday, they must now decide whether to award Brownlows to joint runners-up Richmond’s Trent Cotchin and West Coast’s Sam Mitchell, or simply place an asterisk next to the 2012 medal.

Jobe Watson with his 2012 Brownlow Medal.

As straightforward as many believed the Watson decision would be for the commission, that scenario is far friendlier than asking one of the game’s favourite sons to hand back his medal.

Watson’s decision will be regarded by some as the first admission of guilt in this sorry five-year saga.

But it should endear him further towards Bombers fans and the football world alike.

Watson wrote: “If there is a question in people’s minds as to whether the award is tainted, the fairest and best thing to do is to give it back and honour the history that has gone before me”.

The veteran says his landmark decision does not reflect a change in his own mind regarding the CAS decision, which last month emphatically rejected the ‘Essendon 34’ appeal.

REACTION: ‘HE’S A MAN OF HUGE INTEGRITY’

CLUB STATEMENT: BOMBERS SAY SORRY TO WATSON

And Watson plans to share his thoughts with the AFL Commission at the appropriate time.

Ironically, the last Essendon player to win the Brownlow is now James Hird, who shared the game’s highest individual honour with Michael Voss in 1996.

Jobe Watson at Essendon training this week. Picture: David Caird

But this is about the son of a gun who deserves a warm welcome back when the Bombers host Hawthorn in Round 1 next season.

It would be wrong to boo Jobe, as occurred after his stunning television admission that he believed he had taken the drug AOD-9604.

Because as the greatest victim from football’s biggest nightmare, he has displayed a level of honour others could only dream of.

And surely, the final chapter on this saga has been written. Bring on 2017.