If defenders are known to have a hard time earning votes at Brownlow Medal night, then the rucks aren’t too far behind.
After arguably a career-best season in 2023 which saw him finish third at the Trevor Barker Award and earn selection in the All-Australian squad to earn just three Brownlow votes in return, Rowan Marshall certainly made up for last year’s small total with a career-best 16 votes at last night’s ceremony.
It’s the most votes from a Saints ruckman/forward since Justin Koschitzke’s 11 from 2009, and well past Marshall’s previous best Brownlow figures of eight votes from his standout 2020 campaign.
Twelve of Marshall’s 16 votes were maximum three-vote appearances, with his outings against Geelong (Round 1 and Round 23), Gold Coast (Round 23) and West Coast (Round 19) rocketing him up the leaderboard and into pole position in the Saints’ own count.
The big man’s total could have been greater had he snared votes for his dominant displays against GWS (28 disposals, 25 hit-outs, 16 clearances), Hawthorn (35 hit-outs, 28 disposals, 12 clearances) and Richmond (25 hit-outs, 23 disposals, three goals); the latter two he won his side’s Silk-Miller Memorial Medal and Ian Stewart Medal for his best-on-ground displays.
Such a dominant poll at Brownlow Medal night could spell more accolades in a less than a week as St Kilda’s Trevor Barker Award fast approaches. Marshall has finished on the dais twice (2019, 2023), however is well primed to go one better and claim the coveted honour for his own this coming Monday.
The ruckman was followed closely in this year’s Brownlow Medal count by two-time Trevor Barker Award winner Jack Sinclair (11 votes), who incredibly hadn’t polled a Brownlow vote in his seven seasons prior to clinching his first All-Australian and Best & Fairest honours.
In other Brownlow firsts, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera clinched his first three-vote games (Round 2 v Collingwood, Round 20 v Essendon), as did Callum Wilkie (Round 4 v Richmond) and Mason Wood (Round 12 v West Coast) after 11 seasons at the highest level, while Marcus Windhager got his name on the board for the first time for his efforts against Hawthorn.
