- Demons make cheeky post following Brownlow controversy
The Melbourne Demons have responded in hilarious fashion to one of the biggest voting snubs in Brownlow Medal history.
Matt Rowell claimed a surprise victory over the pre-poll favourites in Monday night’s count to claim the Brownlow Medal – but his win sparked controversy.
The 24-year-old Gold Coast Suns star, who admitted that he was ‘speechless’ in surprise at his victory, clearly outpolled leading candidates like Nick Daicos, Bailey Smith and Jordan Dawson, to finish with a whopping 39 votes.
Not only were some of his votes surprising given his relatively modest output in those games, there was also shock at who did not get votes.
There was an audible gasp through the packed room at Crown Palladium when Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera did not get three votes for his match-winning efforts against Melbourne in round 20, which was hailed at the time as one of the all-time great individual performances.
Wanganeen-Milera took the maximum ten votes in the AFL Coaches Association award, allocated by the two senior coaches for each game, but only two votes in the Brownlow while Melbourne’s Jack Viney got the three.
Players were stunned that Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was snubbed of three votes for his match-winning efforts in Round 20
The Demons made light of the situation with a cheeky social media post
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.
The Melbourne Demons’ social media team wasted no time in poking fun at the awkward situation, posting a cheeky tribute to Viney for claiming the three points.
‘Viney kicks the winner,’ said the post.
‘Three votes’.
Even Melbourne’s Max Gawn and Christian Petracca were both seen to quizzically laugh as the votes were read out, both appearing baffled by the call.
‘Excuse me,’ the Saints’ official X account wrote, after the votes were annnounced, along with an image of Wanganeen-Milera, Steele and Windhager lauging in bemusement.
The history of the award is replete with examples of surprise results, and seemingly inexplicable oversights like that of the Wanganeen-Milera instance, but in an era of intense scrutiny of every game by experts and statisticians, such anomalies are highlighted more than ever.
Essendon great Tim Watson said the umpires that snubbed Wanganeen-Milera need to have laser eye surgery.
The Crown Palladium descended into disbelief, with both Max Gawn (left) and Christian Petracca (right) baffled by the decision to snub Wanganeen-Milera
Matt Rowell claimed a surprise victory on Monday night at the Crown Palladium
‘I don’t want to be unkind, but umpires Dalgleish, Brown, Rodger and Strybos, they should book themselves into laser vision this morning,’ Watson said on SEN Breakfast.
‘That’s not being too unkind is it? I don’t know how you can do that. How can you possibly overlook NAS.’
