Ablett's second place means that in the past 11 days he has finished third in the Brownlow Medal and second Norm Smith Medal and the Geelong best and fairest count, as well as playing in a losing AFL grand final.
Corey, who also won the medal in 2005, polled 591 votes to beat Ablett (538) and Jimmy Bartel (522).
The award was a fitting tribute for the ultra-consistent Corey, who polled votes in 22 of the 25 games he played.
This season Corey led the AFL with 730 disposals, was third in handballs and fifth in tackles.
He also led Geelong in contested possessions, centre clearances, handballs and tackles and was second in kicks and frees for.
Upon receiving the Carji Greeves Medal, Corey received a standing ovation from the 1500 guests who packed the Crown Palladium.
However, in typical fashion, he was quick to turn the attention to others.
“Like a lot of people have said up here, the calibre of blokes running around [at Geelong] these days is just about second to none,” Corey said.
“So to be standing up here … I’m a very lucky bloke.”
Flanked by this year’s two pre-Brownlow medal favourites in Ablett and Bartel, the man known as “Smithy” down at Skilled Stadium seemed a little shocked that he had pipped his more high-profile teammates.
“I say ‘Get these blokes the ball because they’re going to do something good with it’,” Corey said when asked his role in Geelong’s engine room.
“I think we really work well as a team and it’s a pleasure to actually get feedback off these blokes.
“Really I’m running around with probably the best player in the AFL and probably the second-best, so …”
Ablett has now finished in the top three for four consecutive seasons (2005 and 2006 – third; 2007 – first) while Bartel has ended in the top three for three years in a row, coming second in the past two seasons.
Fourth was Cameron Ling with 443 votes. Ling has now finished in the top four of voting in seven straight campaigns.
Following Ling were Joel Selwood (439), Cameron Mooney (423), Corey Enright (417), Andrew Mackie (386), Steve Johnson (384) and Tom Harley (334).
Twenty-eight of the 31 players that represented the Cats in 2008 received votes in the count.
Other awards announced were:
Best first year player: Harry Taylor
Leading goal kicker: Steve Johnson
Best clubman: Tom Harley
Coach’s award: Cameron Ling
VFL best & fairest: Jason Davenport
Community champions: Tom Harley, David Wojcinski and James Kelly
