Essendon captain Jobe Watson claims 2012 Brownlow medal

Jobe Watson skipper of the Essendon football club has won the prestigious 2012 Brownlow medal with a total of 30 votes. The last player to win the Brownlow from Essendon was former skipper and current coach James Hird in 1996.

At the end of round 21 with still two rounds left to count, 27 year old Watson had an unreachable lead and secured his first Brownlow. Last year’s medal winner Dane Swan, who polled with 25 votes presented this year’s medal to Watson.

Jobe Watson Photo Source Herald Sun

Watson started the season in superb form and unlike his club, held his form till the last round. Essendon had a strong start to the season, winning 11 of their first 15 games, but fell apart in the second half of the season – failing to make finals, a feat that seemed likely months before.

Watson who also made the 2012 All Australian team, became the sixth Essendon player to secure the AFL’s highest individual achievement.

“I thought Thompson was the most consistent throughout the year,

“Footy is something I’ve always loved doing, as a youngster I just loved playing, footy is something I have always wanted to do,

“I want to thank teammates, the times that we have at the footy club can be strenuous and tough, their the reasons you get up in the mornings and sacrifice, also family and friends and what they mean to me, the amount of sacrifices people make for you being an AFL footballer I couldn’t be more thankful or grateful for the people I have around me, it just makes my life a joy,” Watson said after accepting the award.

Watson started off as an equal favourite with Gold Coast Suns star skipper Gary Ablett before the nights counting began, but took away the count notching up consistent votes throughout the season. Ablett the 2009 Brownlow winner was quick of the starting block – posting votes in the early rounds, but failed to have consistency in votes, missing out on votes and fading away throughout the middle part of the season.

Hawthorn veteran Sam Mitchell, finished as equal runner-up with Richmond’s rising star Trent Cotchin racking up 26 votes a piece.

This year’s Brownlow favourites all had something in common this year – they all come from teams that did not make the finals run. Gary Ablett, Jobe Watson and Trent Cotchin all from bottom 8 teams were all joint favourites with expert punters.

Watson has played 154 games with the Bombers and is also favoured to win this year’s club best and fairest.

Dane Swan (Collingwood), Scott Thompson (Adelaide), Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood) and Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide) were also hot favourites to win this year’s Brownlow.