Wayne Carey suggests double Brownlow votes in Geelong v Adelaide clash

UPDATE: THE AFL says Patrick Dangerfield will have to wear a possible close loss in the Brownlow, dismissing a push to award double votes for Saturday’s Geelong v Adelaide clash.

Patrick Dangerfield (right) is one of the favourites for this year’s Brownlow Medal. Picture: Sarah Reed

THE AFL has dismissed a push to award double Brownlow Medal votes for SaturdayÂ’s Geelong v Adelaide clash.

The league decided to recognise voting from the eight games played in Round 14 despite the cancellation of the Adelaide-Geelong match following the death of Crows coach Phil Walsh.

AFL great Wayne Carey said with the Crows meeting the Cats in the final round of the home-and-away season on Saturday, the players should be compensated.

“(Patrick) Dangerfield, who clearly is in the market and probably would have got a two or a three on the weekend, this may be the difference between whether he wins a Brownlow Medal or not,” Carey said.

But league spokesman Patrick Keane said it was “never a consideration” to offer double votes to Geelong and Adelaide players this weekend.

He noted players had missed a chance to gain Brownlow votes in various circumstances in the past, including those playing at the national carnival decades ago.

“We accept that there is one less opportunity for Adelaide and Geelong players and that’s unfortunate,” Keane said.

“But of all the options available to us, we believe that that’s the best outcome.

“Particularly when you go back and look at the history of our game, this is not the first time it’s happened when players have had less opportunity to poll compared to other players.

“It’s extremely unfortunate and tragic circumstances, but I think everyone understands why we made the decision at the time.

“There is no reason for us to consider altering how an award has always run.”

Should double Brownlow votes be on offer in the Geelong v Crows clash?

No
Yes

VoteView Results
Polldaddy.com

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, who won the 2003 Brownlow alongside Adam Goodes and Mark Ricciuto, pondered the arguments but was happy to “leave things as they lie”.

“I did wonder why they’re not playing for double points, let alone double votes,” Buckley said.

“Because in some shape or form, it could have impacted the competition. The unfortunate event itself impacted the competition in a significant manner.

“If we’re talking about integrity, not all things are equal. The draw’s not equal, the fixture obviously changes year to year and there are inequities in what we do.

Should all Brownlow votes from Round 14 be suspended?

No
Yes

VoteView Results
Polldaddy.com

“But in the end, you get rewarded for what you do and it’s all speculation as to whether it’s going to affect Paddy Dangerfield’s chances of winning a Brownlow. He’s got to play a good game first, so let’s just leave things as they lie.

“I think the decisions have been made on the right basis and there was an outlier decision that had to be made halfway through the year and those things are going to happen more often than not, unfortunately.”

Former Essendon star Tim Watson suggested suspending all votes from Round 14.