If you're lucky enough to be watching the Brownlow, which is the AFL's best-and-fairest gala done the Monday of Grand Final Week every year from the big ballroom at the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne, post your thoughts and photos here. The eye candy photos, especially. As for the voting, Geelong's Gary Ablett, Jr. is expected to win the honor, as a heavy favorite. Other contenders may include Ablett's Cats teammate Jimmy Bartel, Port Adelaide's Cornes brothers, and Brisbane's Jonathan Brown. News and photos yet to come here...
Citing their preparations for trying to win the Grand Final above anything else, Port Adelaide announced that they will not be booking a table for its players at Crown on Brownlow Medal night, choosing instead to remain in Adelaide. Party poopers.
Brownlow Medal odds, as of 4:15 p.m. Melbourne time (less than four hours before the close of betting, and the start of the red carpet arrivals)... Code: ABLETT Gary (GEEL) 2.10 HARVEY Brent (ROOS) 4.15 CORNES Chad (PORT) 6.50 BARTEL Jimmy (GEEL) 9.00 BROWN Jonathan (BL) 9.00 CORNES Kane (PORT) 15.00 MITCHELL Sam (HAW) 15.00 MCLEOD Andrew (ADEL) 21.00 PAVLICH Matthew (FREM) 28.00 LOCKYER Tarkyn (COLL) 51.00 COREY Joel (GEEL) 61.00 And that's just the top eleven or so players...
Despite missing his team's last two games after having his appendix removed, Geelong on-baller Jimmy Bartel won his first Brownlow Medal by a considerable margin on Monday night.
And now, the Brownlow photos... and just as importantly, those fashion pictures of the Brownlow babes. Collingwood's Heath Shaw and his girlfriend, Olivia Carafa, on the red carpet:
Carlton footballer Brad Fisher with Anelise Magill. Kangaroos footballer Jess Sinclair with Chantelle Delaney. Kangaroo player Brent Harvey and Shayne McClintock.
Kangaroo player Drew Petrie and Nicole Carr. Geelong player Gary Ablett, Jr. and Lauren Phillips. Geelong player Steven Johnson and Erin Griggs.
Geelong captain Tom Harley and Felicity Percival. Geelong player Cameron Ling and Nicole Dodds. Brisbane captain Jonathan Brown and Kylie Adams.
Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley and his wife Tania on the red carpet. St Kilda player Sam Fisher and Steph Edwards. And the glamor couple (one of them, anyway)... Player Chris Judd and partner Rebecca Twigley. Rebecca wore a shocking, "barely there" dress a few years ago to the Brownlow ceremony...
Essendon player Adam McPhee and Bree Hately. Va-va-voom!! St Kilda player Jason Gram and Kaiti Williams. And the Hirds, classy as always... Former Essendon player James Hird and wife Tania.
Richmond player Nathan Brown on the red carpet with his girlfriend Sally Proud. Carlton player Kade Simpson and Diana Steiner arrive for the count. And the Lloyds of Essendon... Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd with his wife Lisa Marie.
Richmond footballer Nathan Foley with Kate O'Connor on the red carpet. And two of Seven's red-carpet hostesses... TV personality Sonia Kruger (right) and Jo Silvagni arrive at the Brownlow medal.
And here's the round-by-round vote count... And the top ten, from the evening's final leaderboard... Code: 29: Jimmy Bartel (Geelong) 22: Simon Black (Brisbane Lions) Brent Harvey (Kangaroos) Daniel Kerr (West Coast) 21: Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) 20: Gary Ablett (Geelong) Dane Swan (Collingwood) Adam Goodes (Sydney) 18: Scott Thompson (Adelaide) 17: Jonathan Brown (Brisbane Lions) Should be noted that both Kerr and Goodes were ineligible from winning the Brownlow this season, due to compiling suspensions earlier in the campaign.