2014 Brownlow Medal


The 2014 Brownlow Medal was the 87th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League home and away season. Matt Priddis of the West Coast Eagles won the medal by polling twenty-six votes during the 2014 AFL season. Defending Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett of the Gold Coast Football Club was the short-priced favourite for the medal until he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in round 16. Betting on the medal was suspended while the extent of the injury to Ablett was determined. captain Joel Selwood, captain Scott Pendlebury and 's Josh Kennedy were considered to be among the new favourites in the wake of Ablett's injury, but at the end of the season Ablett was still second favourite to have polled enough votes before his injury to win the award. He ended up polling the equal-third most votes, tying with 's Lance Franklin on 22 votes.

Leading votegetters


PlayerVotes
1stMatt Priddis 26
Nat Fyfe *25
=2ndGary Ablett Jr. 22
=2ndLance Franklin 22
=4thTravis Boak 21
=4thPatrick Dangerfield 21
=4thJosh Kennedy 21
=4thJoel Selwood 21
Steve Johnson *19
8thTrent Cotchin 18
=9thDayne Beams 16
=9thScott Pendlebury 16

* The player was ineligible to win the medal due to suspension by the AFL Tribunal during the year.

Voting procedure

The three field umpires confer after each match and award three votes, two votes and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and are read and tallied on the evening.
As the medal is awarded to the fairest and best player in the league, those who have been suspended during the season by the AFL Tribunal are ineligible to win the award; however, they may still continue to poll votes. The most notable 2014 case was 's Nat Fyfe; after Ablett's injury, Fyfe became the strong favourite to poll the most votes, but he was already ineligible after being suspended for two weeks for a bump on Gold Coast's Michael Rischitelli in round 2, and he was suspended again for two weeks after striking 's Jordan Lewis in round 21.