A much-maligned player at Fremantle and North Melbourne, Brown has not only become a cult hero at the biggest footy club in the nation, he's also turned himself into one of the most important cogs in the Collingwood machine.
On Sunday evening at the MCG, with scores level in the last quarter of the game between the Magpies and the Western Bulldogs, Brown was moved deep into attack.
He responded by kicking four goals as Collingwood notched its sixth win from six starts in 2011.
The highlight of Brown's performance was a brilliant left-foot goal from the near the boundary line, which came after Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell laid a solid shepherd to clear a path.
After the ball skidded through, the 29-year-old veteran of 229 AFL games pumped his fists towards the delighted Magpies supporters in the bottom deck of the Olympic Stand.
"It was nice," Brown said with a grin. "It's always nice when they go through. I haven’t kicked too many goals this year, so it's nice to hit the scoreboard.
"I guess it's a little bit easier on a wet night. If you can get it going in the right direction it skids a bit.
"In saying that, there was a fair bit of luck involved."
Having slipped three goals behind early on, Collingwood fought back to keep the Bulldogs scoreless during the second quarter.
The Magpies then gave up a 28-point lead, before pulling away again at the finish.
"We played good footy throughout the whole game, it's just that we probably didn't get our inside-50 kicks as good as we'd like, and also we kicked a lot of points," Brown explained.
"I guess in the last quarter we kicked a bit straighter and our entries were a bit cleaner.
"It might have seemed like we flicked the switch, but we played some pretty consistent footy."
