RICHMOND superstar Dustin Martin has lived up to his unbackable pre-count billing by claiming a record-breaking Brownlow Medal victory at Crown Palladium on Monday night.
Martin, the shortest-priced favourite in history at $1.03, polled a record 36 votes – excluding 1976-77, when two umpires awarded separate votes – to win by 11 votes from Hawk Tom Mitchell (25) and Sydney's Josh Kennedy (23), establishing an unassailable lead with three rounds to go.
VIDEO: The moment Dusty won the Brownlow
The 26-year-old had a share of the award by round 21 and could not be beaten a round later, when he already had 30 votes to his name.
Secure your piece of Brownlow history. Click here to see the full range of Dustin Martin memorabilia.
Martin's 11th set of three votes in the final round saw him break reigning winner Patrick Dangerfield's record haul of 35 votes from last year.
It also gave him the most three-vote performances in Brownlow history, passing the nine best-on-grounds polled by Greg Williams (1994), Nat Fyfe (2015) and Dangerfield (2016).
But Dangerfield's ineligible status was the elephant in the room. His round 19 suspension for a dangerous tackle on Carlton ruckman Matthew Kreuzer spoiled what could have been a spectacular race.
There were murmurs when Dangerfield shot four votes ahead of Martin on the back of 22 votes in an extraordinary eight-game stretch between rounds nine and 17. The champion Cat finished with 33 votes.
"He is a champion, Paddy. I have great respect for him, but it would have been a bit awkward if he beat me," Martin said on the stage.
"Obviously, (me being a hot favourite has) been spoken about in the media, and you just have to deal with it. I'm obviously not a big fan of the media or talking in front of people, so I've just got to deal with it, I guess.
"It's been really surreal the last couple of weeks (with Richmond's run to the Grand Final), and we are enjoying every moment of it, and hopefully we can go one better this week."
Daniel Rioli congratulates Martin on winning the Brownlow Medal. Picture: AFL Photos
The winning margin, which beat fellow Tiger and dual Brownlow medallist Roy Wright's 10-vote triumph in 1954, gave weight to Hall of Famer Leigh Matthews' claim Martin's was the best individual season ever.
Martin's night began in perfect fashion, scoring maximum votes in Richmond's season opener for his 33 disposals, six clearances, six inside 50s and four goals against Carlton.
But he took an early backseat to fast-starting Crow Rory Sloane, who had 12 votes by round six. Sloane managed only eight more.
Martin rocketed into the outright lead for the first time in round 11 with the fifth of his 11 three-vote performances, and from there his greatest opponent was history.
He polled in 14 of his 22 games to break Dangerfield's overall tally of 35 from last year. Dangerfield polled in 15 matches in 2016, relegating Martin to third.
Martin is bidding to be the 14th player to achieve the Brownlow-premiership double in the same season, with the Tigers playing in their first Grand Final in 35 years on Saturday against Adelaide.
The boy from Castlemaine averaged 30.2 disposals, kicked 32 goals and ranked first in the AFL in inside 50s, centre clearances and broken tackles and third in contested possessions.
Martin ended months of speculation when he signed a new seven-year deal, reportedly worth between $1.2 and $1.3 million a season, on finals eve to remain at Punt Rd.
"It was certainly stressful," he said of his contract saga.
"By the end of it, I was sick of everyone talking about it, sick of my ugly face being in the paper every day. (Manager) Ralph (Carr) was great to me.
"I pretty much lived at his house towards the end, I'm just glad it got done."
2017 Brownlow Medal top 10
36 - Dustin Martin (Rich)
33 - Patrick Dangerfield (Geel) *
25 - Tom Mitchell (Haw)
23 - Josh Kennedy (Syd)
22 - Lance Franklin (Syd)
21 - Josh Kelly (GWS)
20 - Rory Sloane (Adel)
19 - Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
18 - Ollie Wines (PA)
17 - Dayne Beams (BL)
* ineligible
Dustin Martin's stellar season
- Brownlow medallist
- AFL Players Association MVP
- AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year
- Player of the Year: Herald Sun, SEN, 3AW
- 11 three-vote games (R1 v Carlton, R3 v West Coast, R9 v Greater Western Sydney, R10 v Essendon, R11 v North Melbourne, R15 v Port Adelaide, R17 v Brisbane Lions, R18 v Greater Western Sydney, R19 v Gold Coast, R22 v Fremantle, R23 v St Kilda)
- Averaged 30 disposals, 14 contested possessions, six clearances, six inside-50s, four tackles and a goal each game
- Set new AFL record for most broken tackles (68) and tied record for most in a single game (seven in round 15 win over Port Adelaide)
- Achieved career-high clearances (15 in round three win over West Coast) and inside 50s (12 in round 17 win over Brisbane)
- Most inside 50s this season (147 at six per game)
- Third-most contested possessions this season (340) behind leader Patrick Dangerfield
- Fourth-most disposals this season (715) behind leader Matt Crouch
- Fourth-most clearances this season (155) behind leader Patrick Dangerfield.
