The Brownlow Medal ceremony has delivered some of the most memorable off-field moments in AFL history — see which we ranked as the top Brownlow talking points.
They don’t call the Brownlow Medal the AFL’s night of nights for no reason.
Every year the black-tie event dishes up talking points, whether they be from the crowd, the players or the count.
And that’s before even mentioning the red carpet, where several guests have made a name for themselves.
Ahead of the return of the Brownlow extravangza, we look back on the moments that made headlines or provided a laugh.
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THE ‘BURGER RING’
Few Brownlow Medal interviews have been funnier than that of Adam Cooney’s in 2008.
After being crowned the winner of the award, the Western Bulldogs midfielder was quizzed by host Stephen Quartermaine about a “terrible rumour” that Cooney had proposed to his partner Haylea using a savoury snack called a Burger Ring.
“Yeah, that’s definitely true,” Cooney conceded, to a round of laughs from the audience.
“I wasn’t going to make the mistake of buying her a ring that she didn’t like and I know she likes Burger Ring’s, so I thought I would slip one of them (on).”
Haylea still said ‘yes’ and went shopping for a more formal ring the following day, with the pair being married the following year.
Jack Higgins' full speech! #Brownlowpic.twitter.com/lispZ0xp9z
THE SPEECH ‘SCREW UP’
Richmond small forward Jack Higgins was awarded the Goal of the Year on Brownlow night in 2018 for a miraculous but controversial six-pointer against Collingwood earlier that year.
And it is fair to say his acceptance speech was a little loose.
Asked by teammate Jack Riewoldt what was going through his head when he kicked the goal was the bubbly Higgins replied, “Like always, nothing”.
Some said the goal should have been ineligible, suggesting Higgins had thrown the ball.
However, the cheeky Tiger defiantly said it “wasn’t a throw”.
Higgins was then handed the microphone and started by saying, “My heart’s pumping a thousand minutes per second, so if I screw it up don’t hate on me”.
Clearly, he did screw up that saying.
In 2004, a little-known 21-year-old from Perth by the name of Rebecca Twigley turned up to the Brownlow Medal and stole the show.
Twigley was West Coast midfielder Chris Judd’s date to the event, as Judd’s then girlfriend.
She wore a revealing custom-made red dress by Perth designer Ruth Tarvydas, which attracted instant attention on the red carpet.
Twigley received plenty of further attention from the television cameras during the night as Judd went on to win the game’s most prestigious individual award that year.
Twigley went on to have a television and modelling career and her and Judd were married in Melbourne on New Year’s Eve in 2010.
We need the comeback of Brendan Fevola to the brownlow to make it more entertaining #StevenSeagalpic.twitter.com/EBD9FMUId2
It made for some humorous television, but The Footy Show found itself in some hot water after handing a drunk Carlton forward Brendan Fevola a microphone and sending a camera to follow him around after the 2009 Brownlow Medal.
Fevola had consumed more than a few drinks when he famously approached Blues captain Chris Judd.
Fevola put his thumb under Judd’s ears as he screamed “pressure point, pressure point” and then yelled the name “Stephen Seagal” – an American actor and martial arts instructor.
The taunts of Judd were in reference to the Blues midfielder’s three-game suspension that year for making unnecessary and unreasonable contact to the face of Brisbane’s Michael Rischitelli.
Fevola also kissed Sydney’s Ryan O’Keefe on the lips during his time with the microphone.
Talking about the incident years later, Fevola admitted “I was really pissed, if you didn’t notice”.
The Brownlow Medal can be a long, drawn-out and even boring night.
Just ask former Geelong defender Matthew Scarlett.
The 284-game champion was caught on camera nodding off during the medal count at Crown Palladium in 2005.
To be fair, it was relatively late in the night, with Round 19 being counted at the time.
Scarlett was given a nudge after he received one vote for his performance against St Kilda and woke up to toast his fourth vote of the night with a sip of beer.
I demand @Adamcooney17 give me the 2008 Brownlow medal. The last 2 rounds were a fraud.
Western Bulldogs midfielder Adam Cooney won the Brownlow Medal in 2008.
But the room at Crown Palladium was right behind Richmond forward Matthew Richardson after he launched a late charge to very nearly pinch the award.
After Round 20, sentimental favourite Richardson was one vote behind leader Simon Black after a super season which
However, he didn’t snag a vote in the final two rounds – which he knew were his worst two games of the year – and consequently finished equal-third.
In 2020, Richardson jokingly tweeted, “I demand @Adamcooney17 give me the 2008 Brownlow Medal. The last 2 rounds were a fraud”.
Dustin Martin’s 2017 season was something else – and it showed on Brownlow Medal night that year.
The Richmond midfield-forward polled 36 votes to win the award that year and also set a new record for the most votes in a season under the 3-2-1 voting system.
Martin had gone into the count as the shortest-priced favourite in history at odds of $1.03 and recorded maximum three-vote games in an astounding 11 matches.
“It will just be business as usual tomorrow when I get into the club, and for the rest of the week,” the quiet and humble Martin said.
“Hopefully we can celebrate with a premiership this week.”
Martin did go on to win the premiership with the Tigers and won the Norm Smith Medal in the process as best afield on Grand Final day.
It was dubbed the “most exciting count in the award’s history”.
In 2003, there was a three-way tie for the Brownlow Medal between a trio of footy legends.
Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley, Adelaide’s Mark Ricciuto and Sydney’s Adam Goodes all polled 22 votes, finishing one vote ahead of runners up Ben Cousins (West Coast), Shane Crawford (Hawthorn) and Gavin Wanganeen (Port Adelaide).
Buckley, Ricciuto and Goodes all polled votes in the last round to secure the win.
It was the first time three Brownlow Medals had been handed out since 1930.
Richmond’s Stan Judkins won the medal that year, with Footscray’s Allan Hopkins and Collingwood’s Harry Collier being awarded their medals retrospectively in 1989 after the league recognised players who had been beaten on countbacks.
It was not a drama on the night, but Jobe Watson’s Brownlow Medal win in 2012 blew up five months later.
The Essendon midfielder won the award with 30 votes, four votes ahead of joint runners up Trent Cotchin (Richmond) and Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn).
However, the following February the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) began investigating Essendon’s supplements program and Watson was later one of 34 players suspended under the doping codes.
The AFL Commission deemed Watson retrospectively ineligible for the award in November 2016 and then awarded Cotchin and Mitchell medals.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan revealed in early 2017 that Watson had returned his Brownlow Medal to the league boss, ending months of mystery.
Former North Melbourne big man Corey McKernan sits in the Brownlow Medal record books for an unwanted reason.
He was the first ineligible player to poll enough votes to win the award.
McKernan was suspended for a week in Round 6, 1996 for clumsily falling into the back of Essendon’s John Barnes.
Had McKernan not been suspended, he would have been a joint winner of the award that year alongside Brisbane’s Michael Voss and Essendon’s James Hird.
Instead of being at the count, McKernan spent Brownlow night at home preparing for a Grand Final which the Kangaroos went on to win.
“It’s a surreal experience to see something that’s evolving on TV that you’re a major part of, but yet you’re sitting at home in your tracksuit pants with ice on your knee, preparing for the biggest game of your life,” McKernan told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast in 2021.
The only ‘Brownlow’ he got was a McDonalds replica, given to him by teammates Anthony Rock and Wayne Carey.
A year after McKernan was denied a Brownlow Medal under the “fairest” criteria, the same thing happened to Western Bulldogs forward Chris Grant.
Grant polled the most votes in 1997 with 27, but was ineligible to win which meant the medal went to St Kilda midfielder Robert Harvey (26 votes).
Grant had been judged best afield by the umpires Round 7 that year, but was controversially later reported by then AFL football operations manager Ian Collins.
He received a one-game suspension for an open-handed slap to the head of Hawthorn’s Nick Holland.
“I polled a few votes early on and was always up with the leaders and knew that I had finished the season well. Sure enough, I got eight votes in the last three games to top the voting,” Grant told the Herald Sun years later.
“Looking back it probably would have been better had I not won.”
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Shane Woewodin’s manager had told him to write an acceptance speech before he headed along to the Brownlow Medal night in 2000 – but the Melbourne midfielder had no expectations of pulling it out.
Woewodin thought Carlton’s Anthony Koutoufides or Western Bulldogs’ Scott West would win the award and he fully expected to head home at 10.30pm as he prepared for a Grand Final later that week.
However, Woewodin polled 15 votes in the first eight rounds and ended up winning the award outright after a surprise two-vote game in the final round.
Woewodin only had 17 disposals and kicked one goal in a 70-point Round 22 triumph over West Coast but was still judged as the second-best on ground by the umpires.
Those votes denied West a joint Brownlow Medal win, with Woewodin polling 24 votes and West finishing second with 22 votes.
“I felt a bit for him (West),” Woewodin told Fox Footy in 2020.
“It would have been nice to tie it with him. I thought he had an exceptional season.”
Oliver has been consistent and eye-catching this year, a star for several seasons and plays for a team that has won a lot of games - that’s a winning formula.
Originally published as Most memorable moments in Brownlow Medal history
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