While Geelong pair Gary Ablett and Jimmy Bartel will be teaming up this weekend to in an effort to win their second straight AFL premiership, tonight they are likely to be locked in a head-to-head battle to see who will take home ‘Charlie’, the league’s most coveted individual award.
All betting agencies have Ablett a short-priced favourite – as he was last year – just ahead of Bartel.
With TAB Sportsbet, Ablett remains the $2.50 favourite while his midfield mate and reigning medalist, Bartel, is the second pick at $3.50.
While the race to take home Charlie is by no means a two-man affair, the number of matches Geelong won and predictions from football statisticians seem to point to a Cat again claiming the AFL’s top prize.
However one match – early in the 2008 AFL season – is certain to provide a vital piece of this year’s Brownlow medal jigsaw.
In round two this year, Geelong thumped Essendon by 99 points at Telstra Dome. And Ablett and Bartel both dominated.
Some have said the Cats’ 10-minute blitz early in the second term was some of the best footy they’ve seen. It would be hard to argue.
Geelong’s dynamic duo were in the thick of that goal spree, either setting them up or kicking them themselves.
Ablett finished the match with 34 disposals – 14 kicks, 20 handballs and 2.1 to cap off his day’s work.
Bartel chipped in with 38 touches – 18 kicks, 20 handballs and two goals, as well as a mini speccy that brought the crowd to its feet.
It wasn’t the only match of the year when both were prolific, but for those who have had a flutter this evening, it would be worth having a gander at the round two clash as it might tell a tale.
Why? Some have forecast Ablett and Bartel to finish on the same number of votes tonight, for one.
Their round two vote tallies will be critical to the overall outcome.
What might be more interesting is whether Ablett’s perceived prominence and wow factor went up a notch in the umps’ eyes this year.
He had 2007 under their noses, and while he was flashy perhaps the whistle-blowers simply need a year or two to get used to a bloke playing in the middle. Maybe it was the year he needed to have, just to establish himself as Gary Ablett, the midfielder.
Bartel, the hard-working accumulator, is a proven vote-winner, as we saw last year when he beat his good mate to the medal.
Will he do it again? He has a few more games up his sleeve, and an ultra-consistent second half of the year to make up the ground he’ll likely have to retrieve.
It isn’t a race in two. But be watching in round two.
