i remember that year campbell was the outright favourite to win and got sfa. I was so excited as a kid in the lead up, but once again got smashed by the umpires.
could happen again
Biggest one in my living memory was KB....
1974: 'KB' and Kangas in a spatRichmond rover Kevin Bartlett was the hottest fancy in years. Here's an excerpt from an AFL Record feature on the night of the count:
Bartlett had won Richmond's best and fairest for the second successive season and had cleaned up the various media awards.
"I won 11 of them and came second in the other. I would say it was my best season," Bartlett said.
Back then, the Brownlow Medal count took place the Monday after the final round of the season. It was little more than a glorified sportsman's night, at which the 12 club captains would sit on the stage, manually updating their team's leaderboards.
The votes weren't called out on a game-by-game basis; rather, the single votes were read out first, followed by the two votes, with the three votes called out last.
Bartlett tried not to get caught up in the hype that night as he headed to Melbourne's Southern Cross Hotel.
"It was all about winning the premiership and everything else was second rate. Who cares about awards if you don't win the premiership?"
The League stage-managed the count to perfection. Melbourne ruck-rover Gary Hardeman emerged as the player to beat as the three votes were counted. Towards the end, he had 23 votes to North Melbourne wingman Keith Greig's 18 and Bartlett's 16.
Bartlett went to 22 votes with five votes to be counted. The feeling around the room was that his name would surely be called at least once more; it was his medal to lose.
But Greig, who had moved to 21, earned three more votes and regained the lead with 24. The next two votes went to Footscray's Barry Round and Hawthorn's Kelvin Matthews.
VFL secretary Eric McCutchan announced there was one vote to go. Sporting Globe chief football writer Greg Hobbs was sitting on Bartlett's table and dramatically took out his wallet, threw some cash on the table and loudly declared Bartlett would win on the last vote of the night.
McCutchan continued: "And the final vote, ladies and gentlemen, is K … Greig, North Melbourne."
All hell broke loose as Greig claimed his second straight Brownlow Medal. In their wisdom, the organisers had laid out the tables inside the ballroom with the clubs in alphabetical order, which meant the North Melbourne and Richmond contingents were seated alongside each other.
As soon as the count was over, Tigers secretary Alan Schwab and committeeman Charlie Priestley booed and hissed. Once outside the ballroom, Ron Joseph, the North secretary, challenged them and he and Priestley, a feisty former Richmond premiership player, then scuffled and nearly came to blows.
Schwab summed up the mood at Tigerland, telling The Age's Mike Sheahan: "It's a joke. Greig deserved to win a Brownlow, but not this year."
There was a twist in the tail of the building rivalry between the two clubs. September culminated in the Tigers beating the Roos to take that year's premiership, their second straight.
