Tuesday morning's verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport has thrown into the question the legitimacy of Jobe Watson's 2012 Brownlow Medal.
Watson, along with 33 other past and present Essendon players were found guilty of taking banned substance Thymosin Beta-4 during the 2012 AFL season, the year in which Watson won the highest individual honour in the game.
No matter how sorry anyone feels for Watson and the rest of the playing group, at the end of the day, the the Essendon captain MUST be stripped of his Brownlow.
He has now been found guilty of drug cheating and in order for the game to keep anything remotely resembling credibility after this long, drawn out saga, the medal must be taken away from Jobe.
If that happens, Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin, who finished equal second in the count on 26 votes, should be awarded the joint winners of the 2012 Brownlow Medal.
2012 Brownlow Medal
1. Jobe Watson (30)* Likely to be ruled ineligible
2. Sam Mitchell (26)
Trent Cotchin (26)
4. Scott Thompson (25)
Dane Swan (25)
6. Gary Ablett (24)
7. Patrick Dangerfield (23)
8. Josh Kennedy (19)
Lenny Hayes (19)
Dayne Beams (19)
11. Matthew Pavlich (15)
Kieren Jack (15)
Scott Selwood (15)
Scott Pendlebury (15)
Steve Littler Aydan Fry Adam Leigh Flint Nathan Masters
Steve Davis Chris Thornton
The NRL Titles and Tour De France are both Titles not medals. I believe that medals should always have a winner especially for an entire AFL season, if it were an AFL flag I would say make it void as it is a title. But a Brownlow Medal like Olympic Medals should be always have a winner and therefore should be retrospectively awarded to the runner ups or allow Watson to keep it. Either way I want there to be a winner for the 2012 Brownlow and it doesn’t matter too much if it is Cotchin/Mitchell or Watson keeping it, let there be a 2012 winner. If Watson is made ineligible retrospectively have it act like he is ineligible by suspension/offence like when Grant and Mckernan were ineligible and re award it to the next best players. I am sure if the AFL insisted and Watson gave his approval and blessing they would reluctantly accept it due to them wanting there to be a winner/s that there and not completely void.
wanting there to be a winner/s that year*
After 2016, Mitchell will be the second highest vote getter in the history of the game. He has finished top 2 on three occasions, and had it not been for injury in 2014, he would have been right up there again. He surely deserves this to top off what has been a stellar career….and I don’t even like Hawthorn but appreciate exceptional skill execution on both sides…go Diesel !!!