Matt Rowell claimed a surprise victory on Monday night at the Crown Palladium as the Gold Coast Suns midfielder upset the favourites to claim his maiden Brownlow Medal – but his win did not come without controversy.
The 24-year-old, who admitted that he was ‘speechless’ on acceptance of his award, stunned other hopefuls Nick Daicos, Bailey Smith and Jordan Dawson, to finish top of the voting race with a whopping 39 votes.
The night wasn’t without controversy, with the stunned crowd letting out an audible gasp when Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was snubbed from winning three votes for his match-winning performance against Melbourne in round 20.
Rowell’s win is only the second time a Suns player has ever claimed the Brownlow Medal and is also the first time a player has ever polled a perfect 12 votes from his opening four games of the season, with the midfielder going on to beat Daicos by seven votes.
‘I can’t believe I’m standing up here tonight,’ the ever-humble Rowell told those inside the Crown Palladium. ‘A lot of boys could have been standing up here tonight, so I feel very humbled and very honoured.
Rowell has enjoyed a standout season, making some career-best numbers, including a total of 657 disposals throughout the season – the most he has ever amassed – alongside a career-high goal tally.
‘I’m pretty speechless to be honest,’ he added.
Matt Rowell claimed a surprise victory on Monday night at the Crown Palladium as the Gold Coast Suns midfielder upset the favourites to claim his maiden Brownlow Medal
The 24-year-old (second from right), who admitted that he was ‘speechless’ on acceptance of his award, stunned other hopefuls Nick Daicos, Bailey Smith and Jordan Dawson, to finish top of the voting race with a whopping 39 votes
Celebrations ensued after Rowell, who has enjoyed a sensational season, walked off stage, with his team-mates toasting to their champion midfielder
‘My family are massive supporters and they’re everything to me. They’re at every game and support me so much… It’s why I’m standing up here today.’
It seemed as though the award was Daicos’ to lose coming into the evening, with many footy stars arriving on the red carpet backing the Collingwood superstar to finally claim his debut best and fairest award. In the past two seasons alone, the 22-year-old has amassed a whopping 0 votes, notably claiming 38 in 2024 only to be beaten by Patrick Cripps, with a record-breaking 45 votes.
On Monday, he also became the fourth player in the history of the football league to snap up 100 votes in his first 100 home and away games.
But the Brownlow voting system once again faced scrutiny from fans and figures around the AFL for some of the decisions made by umpires awarding the votes.
The Wanganeen-Milera incident was the most notable with fans certain he deserved the full three points for his performance against the Demons in July.
Jack Viney took top honours for that game despite Wanganeen-Milera winning it almost single-handedly
The St Kilda star, who recently put pen to paper on a new $2million deal with the Victoria outfit, finished joint ninth in the medal race alongside Max Gawn on 23 votes.
But he was not handed a full three merits
Many inside the Crown Palladium were left aghast at the decision, with Channel 7’s cameras cutting to the baffled 22-year-old and his team-mates Jack Steele and Marcus Windhager, who were all stunned by how Wanganeen-Milera didn’t claim the top honours, considering his brilliant performance.
St Kilda took to X to post a picture of their players Jack Steele (left), Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (centre) and Marcus Windhager (right), who were all stunned by the decision
In an apparent troll to the AFL, the club added the image to bio image on their X account
The Crown Palladium descended into disbelief, with both Max Gawn (left) and Christian Petracca (right) baffled by the decision to snub Wanganeen-Milera
Wanganeen-Milera booted four goals during the match, had a game-high 34 touches. It was perhaps his best performance of the season, with the youngster kicking two sensational goals in the dying embers of the match to seal an epic comeback victory.
But after he was adjudged to have been second fiddle to Viney, an air of disbelief descended around the room. Max Gawn and Christian Petracca both unleashed a quizzical laugh, both appearing baffled by the call.
St Kilda players broke down in hysterics, while Wanganeen-Milera couldn’t believe the vote.
‘Excuse me,’ the Saints’ official X account wrote, after the bombshell news dropped.
In an apparent troll of the voting system, the Saints then published an image of Wanganeen-Milera, Steele and Windhager on bio image of the team’s official X account.
Even GWS were left confused by the bizarre call to snub Wanganeen-Milera. The NSW club took to X to write: Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera not getting three votes is crazy work.’
Votes for the Brownlow Medal are secretly made by umpires after each game across the season before they are tallied up and revealed at the ceremony.
The decision is even more bizarre considering Wanganeen-Milera got 10 coaches’ votes from that game, while Viney received half that.
Wanganeen-Milera (centre) booted four goals during the match, had a game-high 34 touches. It was perhaps his best performance of the season, with the youngster kicking two sensational goals in the dying embers of the match to seal an epic comeback victory
Many from the footy world were also left baffled by the bizarre decision to snub Wanganeen-Milera
Meanwhile, others questioned why Rowell had been handed three votes for games in which he had largely underwhelmed
And that has prompted many from around the footy world to call for a revamp over how votes are calculated.
‘That’s it, I’m done. Brownlow is officially a mockery. J Viney 3 votes, N Wanganeen-Milera 2 votes and we all know what NAS did in the last quarter,’ one fan wrote on X.
Jacob Landsmeer added: ‘If Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera wasn’t best on ground against Melbourne in round 20, we can’t have the umpires doing Brownlow votes anymore. #AFL.’
Mark Gottlieb went as far as claiming that umpires should no longer be allowed to vote on the Brownlow Medal race.
‘Wanganeen-Milera not getting 3 votes in that game against Melbourne should be the end of umpires voting for the Brownlow Medal,’ he wrote on X.
‘Wow. So Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera parts the seas, turns water into wine, enacts a deadset miracle to win a game off his own boot in Round 20 – and only polls only 2 votes. The #Brownlow is officially cooked!’ one fan added.
It came after some had questioned the voting calculations on some of Rowell’s earlier victories, with fans noticing that on two separate occasions, the footy star had won three votes in two occasions where he had underwhelmed compared to other players on the field.
During the Suns round three match against the Crows, Rowell only had 17 touches of the footy. In round seven, he managed only 16 disposals against the Swans. In both games he made eight successful tackles, but was surprisingly was awarded three votes for both games.
‘The most underserved Brownlow since 2008. 11 votes for these games. Rowell won by 7. What a fucking joke,’ one X user wrote.
‘The Brownlow has just lost the little credibility it had left. Complete joke. Needs to seriously get looked at,’ another added.
Rowell’s team-mate, Noah Anderson, had been another favourite to pick up the award on Monday night, but some were left fuming after he was not handed a single vote, despite racking up 35 disposals and seven score involvements during the Suns’ round 10 win against Hawthorn.
