While it was a joyous occasion for Carlton fans and Patrick Cripps, who took home the 2022 Brownlow Medal, the most surprising aspect of the night was certainly the case of Karl Amon.
The Port Adelaide winger had enjoyed a successful season at Alberton but, on paper, was far from his club’s best player. The AFL’s official Brownlow predictor had Amon finishing on zero votes, while other predictors had him finishing on no more than two.
But in remarkable circumstances, Amon polled four best-on-grounds to finish with 15 votes, one clear of Connor Rozee.
Rozee was a popular choice and short-priced favourite to win the Power’s count, while he was also a feature in Gerard Whateley’s annual Brownlow multi.
Players in 2022 getting 3 Brownlow votes but no coaches votes
— Swamp (@sirswampthing) September 18, 2022
R04 Dion Prestia
R07 Ollie Wines
R11 Sam Powell-Pepper
R14 Karl Amon
R15 Karl Amon
R17 Changkuoth Jiath
R19 Karl Amon
R19 Luke Parker
R21 Jarrod Witts
R21 Clayton Oliver
R23 Dan Hannebery
@AFL @AFLCoaches #Brownlow
While the remainder of the eight-leg multi saluted, Amon triumphing Rozee by a vote cost the veteran broadcaster.
Laughing about the matter on SEN’s Whateley, he said he could barely believe his eyes on Sunday evening.
“So running maths all night on my spreadsheets, Ollie Wines is out to a lead, Sam Powell-Pepper is coming, but I know Rozee is coming home and I know he’s got three (votes) in the bank at the end, he’s getting the last three votes in the Showdown,” Whateley said.
“Quick maths (had me thinking) it’s going to be alright.
“K.Amon; two votes (in Round 23), and there goes the eight-leg multi. He polled 15 votes… on all projections he was polling two!”
All other legs of Whateley’s multis got up. Jack Crisp won Collingwood’s count, Zach Merrett charged late to win Essendon’s, Jeremy Cameron polled dominantly for Geelong and Josh Kelly won GWS's count with ease, as did Callum Mills at Sydney.
Clayton Oliver and Luke Davies-Uniacke also triumphed in Melbourne’s and North Melbourne’s count respectively, meaning Rozee was the odd man out.
Whateley referenced Kane Cornes questioning whether Karl Amon should be dropped late in the season, a take he initially disagreed with.
But with Amon getting two crucial votes in the final round, Whateley joked that he’d changed his tune.
“So I’m left with a whole lot of thoughts in the aftermath, a whole lot of thoughts. Not the least of which Kane said at some stage, ‘Kenny should stop playing Karl Amon’,” he added.
“At the time I thought, no, this is everything that is wrong with the modern media, but Kane was right! Of course he should have stopped playing Karl Amon!
“It’s going to take me years of counselling to get over this.
“That is a hard way to lose an eight-leg Brownlow multi… at $14 too!”
Amon has already announced he will explore his free agency options and has nominated Hawthorn as his club of choice.