IT IS not out of the realms of possibility that the Brownlow Medal count could come down to a neck-and-neck battle between Trent Cotchin and Jobe Watson.

If, as many are tipping, Cotchin takes home football's most prestigious individual honour, he may have teammate Daniel Jackson to thank.

Watson blitzed the first quarter, gathering 10 possessions but after the Tigers moved things around, Jackson had the job of minding the Essendon captain, keeping him to only 10 touches for the remaining three quarters.

Cotchin meanwhile gathered 31 touches, including five missed shots at goal in a performance far more likely to attract votes than Watson.

Jackson laughed at the idea he may have done his younger teammate a big favour.

"I don't think Cotchy needs me to help him with votes. He's flying, he's such a great leader for a young guy and the way he wins his own footy and tackles, chases and ends up in the defensive 50 is such a credit to the way he plays his football," Jackson told AFL.com.au.

For Jackson it was a return to his early days as a tagger, after being more of an attacking player in recent years.

He said he knew he had his work cut out when faced with the in-form Watson.

"I suppose with Jobe you know he is so damaging around the contests and around the stoppages and probably less damaging with his movement around the ground. I prefer the running around in the open field, I figure I can cover those off," he said.

"But with him it's all about concentrating and being in the right spots. It is a very hard job when he is on and he was certainly on early so I had to be very focused. It was good to get back to a little bit of tagging, I haven't done much over the last two years but it's a good challenge."

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has talked up Cotchin's Brownlow chances over the past few weeks but was coy when asked if he would feature in the votes on Friday night.

"I think I'll defer that one to the people who matter. He was very good, he would have preferred to have finished with five goals instead of the five behinds he kicked," he said.

"It was probably the one thing he's got to get better at. He can certainly kick a goal, he's just got to finish it off."