Brownlow 2015: Win adds to Nat Fyfe legend

HE ENTERED the Brownlow Medal count with a “ridiculous little walking stick”. Nat Fyfe finished it as Mr Indestructible.

2015 Brownlow Medal at Crown Casino, Nat Fyfe wins the Brownlow. Melbourne. 28th September 2015. Picture: Colleen Petch.

HE ENTERED the Brownlow Medal count resembling an evil dictator with a fashion accessory he described as a “ridiculous little walking stick”.

By the end of a pulsating Brownlow Medal night where records just kept tumbling, Nathan Fyfe had morphed into Mr Indestructible.

Just three nights before he had added to the Fyfe legend by played out an entire game with a broken leg.

At 10.45pm on Monday night the same warrior spirit saw Fyfe triumph as Fremantle’s first Brownlow Medallist despite insurmountable odds.

EVERY GAME, EVERY VOTE: BROWNLOW TRACKER

Who else could poll 29 of their remarkable 31 votes in the first 14 rounds of the 2015 season?

Or poll 17 of 18 votes in a scintillating streak of voting from Rounds 4-9?

Or dodge four contentious match review panel incidents, two of which would have seen him ineligible under last year’s regulations?

Or poll the clinching two votes in Round 17 when the AFL coaches ignored him in their votes in favour of eight other Richmond and Fremantle players?

Nat Fyfe gets a hug from Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich after winning the 2015 Brownlow Medal. Picture: Colleen Petch

The Brownlow Medal has rarely had a more worthy victor given those challenges, as Fyfe did what he has all year — tore his competitors apart.

Only Matt Priddis could go with his Perth rival yet the unassuming Fremantle champion would become the last man standing.

It was the Brownlow Medal night with everything — two shaggy-haired West Australians going head to head, a Brownlow leak that wasn’t, and Gill McLachlan’s warp-speed delivery driving the pace.

And when the dust settled, Fyfe was a humble and deserving champion.

Behind him, second-placed Priddis franked a 2014 win some had chose to question and evergreen Sam Mitchell rounded out a trio of top-three Brownlow placings.

So often we have hailed a Brownlow Medallist despite wondering if others had better claims in that year.

Yet Fyfe stood above all else — no asterisks, no caveats, just a champion of the game getting what was owed to him.

It is the quintessential footy story. A scrawny kid from a WA wheatbelt town fulfilling his dreams through hard work and humility.

We had all assumed this laid-back boy from Lake Grace would be Fearless Pride leading Kingston Town in the 1982 Cox Plate — charging along only to get swamped by a rival who supposedly couldn’t win.

Yet the surprise was that he triumphed with Priddis shadowing him every step of the way.

Nat Fyfe won the Brownlow despite missing four games.

Eleven rounds in he was racking up votes at will and yet Priddis was just four votes behind his tally of 23 after polling in Rounds 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Priddis is a polling machine — in Round 9 he picked up three votes despite Josh Kennedy’s 6.2 and 20 possessions against Geelong.

Yet just when Fyfe’s momentum was predicted to grind to a halt, he got the slice of luck all Brownlow Medallists need.

In Round 14 he picked up three votes despite Pavlich’s three goals and Mundy’s 30 possessions, those pair and two others polling ahead of him in the AFL coaches votes.

Then came the Round 17 clincher against the Tigers, the game David Mundy kicked the last-gasp winner and had 28 possessions.

Fyfe’s 10 tackles to go with 25 touches that day was enough for two votes, because he is nothing if not a complete player.

Brownlow Medals were minted for players like Fyfe who mixes the high flyer, the raging bull, the running machine, the attacking goalscorer.

The sum of those parts is something extraordinary — one that couldn’t be more deserving of this achievement.

Brownlow Medal 2015 | Create infographics

Originally published as Brownlow 2015: Win adds to Nat Fyfe legend