The Brownlow Medal is Geelong's, but it was not the Cat most expected.

Midfielder Jimmy Bartel beat teammate Gary Ablett to the AFL's most coveted award and continue the theme of 2007 being the year of the Cat.

Bartel, the fifth favourite entering the count, polled 29 votes despite missing the last two games of the regular season after having his appendix removed, seven more than his nearest challenger.

Brisbane Lion Simon Black, Kangaroo Brent Harvey and West Coast's Daniel Kerr finished equal second on 22 votes, while Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell polled 21.

Ablett, the pre-count favourite, finished on 20 votes, along with last year's winner Adam Goodes of Sydney and Collingwood's Dane Swan.

Bartel, 23, is Geelong's fifth Brownlow winner and the first since Paul Couch in 1989, and has the chance to cap his superb season by winning a premiership medal in Saturday's grand final against Port Adelaide at the MCG.

The onballer, who this year went from very good player to one of the game's superstars, trailed Black for most of the count but hit the front with a three-vote game against Richmond in round 18.

He then sealed victory when he polled another three in the round 20 win over the Kangaroos, which put him out of reach.

Bartel and Ablett sat beside each other throughout the count and looked nervous throughout, and the winner was lost for words when presented with his medal.

"Off the top it's pretty hard, I'm trying not to shake up here," he said.

"It's been interesting all night, we've (he and Ablett) been having a bit of a laugh.

"He did very well, but I definitely saw him up here instead of myself."

Bartel thanked his Geelong teammates and coaches, his family,, his home club of Bell Park - a Geelong suburb - and his Danish girlfriend, who is at home and will not be in Melbourne to watch the grand final.

"I don't think she knows what the grand final is," he said.

Bartel's win continued the trend for midfielders winning the award and also for players winning the Brownlow and then playing in the grand final in the same week.

But Bartel will be out to break the recent trend of some recent medal winners; Couch, Collingwood's Nathan Buckley (2003), West Coast's Ben Cousins (2005) and Goodes all played in losing sides on grand final day.

Bartel's victory continued a season of dominance for the Cats, who posted a winning streak of 15 games, easily won the minor premiership, won the Rising Star award (Joel Selwood) and then had nine players recognised as All-Australians.

The Cats won both their finals to set up what should be a great clash against the Power.

"Port got the better of us last time we played them (round 21), they're a very good side being second on the ladder," Bartel said.

"They definitely deserve to be there and they've got a lot of very good players we're going to have to watch out for."

Bartel, who averaged 27 disposals a game in 2007, polled heavily in two stages of the season.

He recorded 13 votes in five successive games from rounds seven to 11, then produced four best-afield games in the five games spanning rounds 16 to 20 before he was sidelined.

Although the count lacked the dramatic finish of some reason polls, it produced some notable efforts.

Bartel, Ablett and Joel Corey (12) polled between them 61 votes, a record for three players from the one side, which illustrated the brilliance of the Cats' midfield.

Geelong also broke their club record of 103 votes (1991), by polling 106 across all players.

Black looked a chance of winning a second medal after his 2002 win as he led during the middle rounds, after he polled a maximum six votes from the opening two games.

Former West Coast captain Chris Judd - sitting at a table with his ex-teammates despite having just left the club - made an even better start, by polling 16 votes from the first eight games before he fell out of the running.

Judd was hampered by a groin injury for the second half of the season.

Harvey polled a maximum 15 votes in five successive games from rounds 13-17, while St Kilda's Robert Harvey became the first player in history to have polled votes in 100 games across his career.

Swan was another dark horse, and would have embarrassed league officials had he won, as he was not invited to the count.

Kerr again proved a major vote-getter after finishing runner-up in 2005 and then polling the third-highest tally last year when he was ineligible through suspension, just as in 2007.

© 2009 AAP
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