Slick and quick Gill

First things first. Whoever gave the direction to Gillon McLachlan to fly through the reading of the votes deserves a medal of their own. The league CEO took the Port Adelaide game plan of "speed kills" and his urgency made the whole presentation far more watchable. The count only gets interesting in the final six rounds, so it makes sense to get to that point as quickly as possible. He then used some strategic pauses to keep the usual drama late in proceedings, and it added to the slick performance.

That was 'The Best Thing' we could get for the Brownlow?

There was nothing slick about pre-count entertainment. We'll get to the votes soon, but would it be crazy to suggest that the same person who booked Meat Loaf for the 2011 grand final is still working for the AFL and signed up Boom Crash Opera for this gig? Suffice to say that this rendition of their hit song "The Best Thing" was not the best thing that has ever happened to the Brownlow Medal.

Buddy and the big boys

Before we point out some of their mistakes, let's first tip our caps to the umpires for acknowledging, at least more than usual, the guys that put the money in the bank and the bums on seats - the key forwards. It wasn't just Lance Franklin, although it was good to know the umpires recognise the value of a "Buddy bag" as much as the spectators do. Franklin kicked four goals or more in 10 games this season, and polled in eight of them, with the umpires also rewarding Buddy's 2.7 against his old team in round eight. And the boys in yellow (or whatever colour) didn't miss the 11-goal hauls of Jack Riewoldt and Josh Kennedy, either, awarding the Richmond and West Coast spearheads with three votes in those matches. Franklin's tally of 22 votes was the most earned by a Coleman Medallist.

Big mouth 'doesn't help'

Hawthorn forward Jack Gunston might have given a hint, before the count, to those who spent the night trying to work out when Jordan Lewis was going to appear on the main leaderboard. Speaking to Fox Footy about Lewis' chances, team-mate Gunston said: "he is a bit of a hot-head out there sometimes, he can say a few too many things, and the umpires might not give him too many votes". Lewis was also asked about his sometimes testy relationship with the umpires and conceded: "I don't think it helps". Well, he must've had plenty to say in round three, when the star midfielder took away 10 clearances to go with 37 disposals, but earned zero votes. Lewis said before the count that he would have a "slow start", and the umpires agreed, awarding him just three votes in the first 18 rounds. Even his game-high 35 disposals and seven inside 50's in the Hawks round 18 win over Sydney were not enough to sway the umpires' opinion. He finally got some recognition in the final five rounds, but his end tally of 15 was well under pre-count predictions for one of the favourites.

Everyone loves Patty

If the umpires see Lewis as something of a bully, then Patrick Dangerfield is fast becoming a teacher's pet. The Adelaide play-maker remained on the top five leaderboard virtually the whole night, and ended up with more votes than Lewis, Robbie Gray, Dyson Heppell, Scott Pendlebury and Tom Rockliff, all of whom were in the All-Australian team. Dangerfield wasn't even in the All-Australian squad of 40, but then again, those selectors didn't have Matt Priddis in the team of the year. Dangerfield had six three-vote games in his 21, a confusing one being how he was judged best afield in Melbourne's stirring round 7 win over the Crows at the Adelaide Oval. Dangerfieid had 25 disposals and kicked two goals, but Chris Dawes also had three goals and 20 disposals and played the best game of his career. And the Demons won.

Ablett just 'Special'

Bruce McAvaney must love Gary Ablett. The legendary Channel Seven commentator is in his element on Brownlow Medal night, alerting the crowd to highly-specific stats and new records. And on Monday night Ablett provided McAvaney with more material than he had air time. Here is a sample. The Gold Coast captain became just the 5th player to reach 200 career votes when he recorded two in the Suns round 7 win over North Melbourne. He had earned 14 votes by round seven, which was the most ever by a player that early in the season. His 5th three-vote game for the year in round nine was the 46th best-on-ground performance of his career, which set a new record, passing St Kilda great Robert Harvey. By the time Ablett had finished with 22 votes, when injury ended his season in round 16, he was just six votes behind Harvey's overall career tally of 215. Ablett 's 209 has moved him third on the list - behind Harvey and all-time leader Gary Dempsey (218) - having passed Chris Judd (203) and Leigh Matthews (202) on the night.

Thanks a lot, Stevie

Never in his career at Geelong has Joel Selwood stood out as the club's best player more than he did this season. But if the Cats skipper was wondering where all his votes were going in a season where his team won 17 games, his answer was - more often than not - on the growing tally of team-mate Steve Johnson. Like Dangerfield, Johnson was not in the All-Australian squad, did not feature highly in any other awards nor betting markets, yet still managed to register 19 votes, which finished 9th and well ahead of several of the favourites. Johnson pipped Selwood for the three votes in rounds 2, 4 and 18 in games when both players polled. Selwood was also stiff to be upstaged by Mitch Duncan after Selwood produced a game Champion Data ranked as one of the 10 best individual performances of the season (the other nine all earned three votes) against Brisbane in round 23. Selwood had 29 disposals, six clearances, six inside 50s, nine tackles and two goals, however both he and Tom Hawkins, who kicked a career-high seven goals, were placed behind Duncan.

Robbie Robbed?

Poor Robbie Gray. The umpires have some explaining to do to Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley, who said on Saturday that "if people who are controlling the game have got good vision" then Gray would win the Brownlow because he was "clearly the best player in the competition this year". The AFL coaches MVP finished equal 17th on Monday night, polling in seven games for just 14 votes. There were several misses, but the most puzzling seemed to be why his 37 disposals and 12 clearances in a round 20 loss to Sydney was not worthy of a single vote.

Fyfe fine by us

For the record, the umpires were not so aggrieved by Nat Fyfe's controversial bump on Gold Coast's Michael Rischitelli in round 2. They gave the Dockers star a vote for his 29 disposals and seven clearances.

Your guess is as good as mine

A couple of head-scratchers to finish. Brisbane star Tom Rockliff had 44 disposals and 12 tackles in a loss to Fremantle in round 14 to earn... one vote. Not best on ground, with just the 44 touches? And what about Bernie Vince polling three votes for his 25 disposals and a goal on Queen's Birthday. Didn't Melbourne only kick three goals in that game? And lose by 33 points?

Couldn't find him a spot, not even on the bench?

A final point on the winner, Matt Priddis. Since 1991, when the All-Australian team started being selected as a "team of the year", rather than a carnival representative team, only one Brownlow Medallist, other than Priddis, as ever missed out on All-Australian selection  - and that was Melbourne's Medallist Shane Woewodin in 2000.