Throughout the history of the Geelong Football Club, the Brownlow Medal has been awarded to one of its players on seven occasions.
As football’s night of nights approaches, we take a look at the Cats’ Brownlow record.
Cats' Brownlow History
Geelong’s first winner of the ‘Charlie’ was also the first ever in the award’s history. Edward ‘Carji’ Greeves won the medal at 20 years of age in 1924 and now adorns the clubs best and fairest award.
Back then the umpires awarded just one vote to the best player on the ground in each match as Greeves, the dominant VFL centreman, won with a tally of just seven votes.
27-years-later Bernie Smith took out the medal after winning the club’s best and fairest award and playing in a premiership in the same year.
Smith demonstrated his brilliance by winning the award while playing as a small defender in the back pocket throughout the entire season, as he revolutionised the reputation of backmen by setting up attacking moves rather than simply negating his opponent.
Later followed Alistair Lord, winning 1962 Brownlow Medal at 22.
Lord was a brilliant centreman who averaged 30 disposals per game for the Cats that year, yet only played for Geelong for seven seasons. He however did manage to play a key role in the following year’s VFL premiership win against Hawthorn.
In 1989 Paul Couch was the Geelong Cats' fourth Brownlow Medallist. The boy from Boggy Creek was a revelation in Malcolm Blight’s first season at the helm.
Roaming through the centre and using his penetrating left foot to great effect, Couch was one of the driving forces behind Geelong’s charge up the ladder, which took the club all the way to the Grand Final.
After 18 years Jimmy Bartel became the club’s fifth recipient of the Brownlow.
In a premiership-winning year, the 23-year-old averaged 27.5 disposals in the midfield per game and finished with 18 goals to his name.
Bartel finished an impressive seven votes clear of the three players who tied for second place.
Two years later the club claimed another Brownlow Medal, with Gary Ablett taking home the award in what was to be the year of Geelong’s second premiership in three years.
He made it impossible for the umpires to overlook him in 2009, averaging 34 disposals per game and booting 27 goals.
While at the Gold Coast, Ablett managed to rack up another Brownlow, claiming the 2013 Medal.
In 2016, Patrick Dangerfield debuted in the hoops and also claimed that year’s prestigious award.
Averaging nearly 32 disposals per game and kicking 24 goals for the season, the versatile midfielder polled a record 35 votes in the medal count to be nine votes clear of Sydney’s Luke Parker.
