The 2008

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

was the 81st year the award was presented to the player adjudged the

fairest and best In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

player during the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) home and away season.

Adam Cooney Adam Cooney (born 30 September 1985) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Western Bulldogs and Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He won the Brownlow Medal in 2008, with 24 votes b ...

of the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

won the medal by polling twenty-four votes during the

2008 AFL season The 2008 AFL season was the 112th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured si ...

. Pre-vote favourite, Gary Ablett and sentimental favourite, Matthew Richardson finished equal third on twenty-two votes. Cooney polled twenty-four votes, one ahead of 's

Simon Black Simon Black (born 3 April 1979) is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Black was a midfielder with a reputation fo ...

, who won the award in 2002 and was equal second in 2007.

Leading vote-getters

* The player was ineligible to win the medal due to suspension by the

AFL Tribunal The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League (AFL), an Australian rules football competition. The Tribunal regulates the conduct of players, umpires, and other officials associated with the AFL and its clubs. ...

during the year.

Voting procedure

The three field

umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

(those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes, and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and they are read and tallied on the evening.

Ineligible players

As the medal is awarded to the fairest and best player in the league, those who have been suspended during the season by the

(or, who avoided suspension only because of a discount for a good record or an early guilty plea) are ineligible to win the award; however, they may still continue to poll votes. In 2008 many of the leading contenders including

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals in the home-and-away season. It is named after Essendon full-forward John Coleman, one of the most ...

list

Lance Franklin Lance Franklin (born 30 January 1987), also known as Buddy Franklin, is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 20 ...

, Sam Mitchell,

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

Brett Burton Brett Burton (born 4 May 1978) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League. He was picked up at Pick 16 in the 1998 AFL Draft by the Adelaide Football Club. He is noted for his spectacular high m ...

and

Daniel Kerr Daniel Alan Kerr (born 16 May 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played 220 games for the club between 2001 and 2013, as a hard-running inside midfie ...

all were found guilty of an offence and were ineligible to win the medal.

Pre-count betting

Despite changing clubs after the 2007 season,

Chris Judd Christopher Dylan Judd (born 8 September 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and captain of both the West Coast Eagles and Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Widely regarded as one of the bes ...

was installed as the early favourite when betting opened, but as the season progressed Gary Ablett became a short-priced favourite. When Ablett injured his ankle and missed three matches,

Brent Harvey Brent Harvey (born 14 May 1978), often known by his nickname "Boomer", is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He holds the record for most matches playe ...

moved to outright favourite. By the end of the season however, Ablett had returned to favouritism, with 2007 winner

Jimmy Bartel James Ross Bartel (born 4 December 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A utility, tall and weighing , Bartel contributed as a midfielder, forward, an ...

, Harvey and

close behind.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlow Medal 2008 in Australian rules football 2008 Australian Football League season

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...