Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin should each be awarded a Brownlow Medal, writes Jon Ralph
FROM best and fairest awards to premiership medals, Sam Mitchell is a winner who is more than worthy of a Brownlow Medal, writes Jon Ralph.
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SAM Mitchell has no interest in putting in a submission requesting Jobe Watson’s 2012 Brownlow Medal along with runner-up Trent Cotchin.
He shouldn’t need to, either.
The AFL’s request for him and Cotchin to explain their position and potentially push to replace Watson was just another bizarre sidenote on a story that by Tuesday will finally be over.
Mitchell’s position is that while he would accept the award, the unprecedented circumstances and way in which Watson lost it mean any celebration would be brief and muted.
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And certainly not preceded by him officially lobbying to replace Watson on the dais.
Just because he mocked Essendon’s players with an on-field sledge miming an injection doesn’t mean he doesn’t have sympathy for their plight.
But by Tuesday night, Mitchell should be one of the game’s most decorated figures.
Were it not for Cyril Rioli’s brilliance in the 2015 Grand Final and Luke Hodge pipping him for the 2014 Norm Smith Medal, Mitchell might be the game’s most decorated figure.
As revealed in the Herald Sun last week, the AFL commission has the powers to make this an asterisk Brownlow Medal, one gladly accepted from Watson and not handed on to any other player.
The argument that all votes allocated against Essendon players should be stripped — meaning Adelaide’s Scott Thompson would win the award — makes no sense given suspended players are still allowed to poll votes despite not being eligible to win.
But if Cotchin and Mitchell will feel a range of bittersweet emotions if the AFL does hand them that Brownlow at next year’s season launch, it makes no sense to deny them that award.
They polled 26 votes behind Watson’s 30, Cotchin amassing a 606-possession, 21-goal, 101-tackle season he has never again replicated.
Mitchell just did what he always does, knocking up with 653 possessions on his way to another Peter Crimmins Medal.
To put their feats of that year into context, their tally would have won eight of the Brownlow Medals awarded since 2000.
If the Commission does make the common-sense decision — and we all know they can be surprising and contrary — consider this resume for Mitchell.
Four AFL premierships, five best-and-fairests, the 2003 Rising Star award, a JJ Liston Trophy, a Brownlow.
The only thing missing is a Norm Smith Medal.
But in 2014 and 2015 he was runner-up in that award, voted best-on by two of five judges in 2015 behind Rioli and just a single vote behind Luke Hodge in 2014.
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One more stat to ponder.
He and Gary Ablett both have 220 career Brownlow votes, second only to Gary Dempsey, who was awarded 55 of his 246 votes in 1976 and 1977 when two sets of votes were awarded, doubling those year’s tallies.
It effectively gives Dempsey 27.5 extra Brownlow Medal votes, meaning if not for that anomaly Ablett and Mitchell would be the greatest pollers in the history of the medal.
How can Mitchell not be worthy of accepting the 2012 award?
Originally published as Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin should each be awarded a Brownlow Medal, writes Jon Ralph
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