GEELONG may have fallen short in its preliminary final but that should not take any shine off Patrick Dangerfield's brilliant maiden year as a Cat.
If he takes home the Brownlow Medal (as he is expected to do) on Monday night, it would be the first time someone has won that, the Players' Association MVP, the Coaches' Association player of the year, along with the swag of media awards Dangerfield has collected (the Herald Sun, The Age, ABC, SEN, 3AW, Lou Richards Medal).
Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett enjoyed a similarly dominant season in 2009 when playing for Geelong, taking home the Brownlow Medal, AFLPA MVP and AFLCA award.
But he missed out on the Herald Sun's award with Dane Swan triumphing.
Dangerfield is the hot favourite to win the Brownlow with CrownBet having him at $1.20 and AFL.com.au's predictor tipped him to beat Sydney Swans midfielder Luke Parker by four votes.
It has certainly been a phenomenal year for Dangerfield. He set the record for most inside 50s recorded in a season, won the AFLPA MVP by 926 votes from former teammate Rory Sloane and also won the AFLCA award by a record margin.
If he has any ambitions about winning 'Charlie' though, Dangerfield wasn't admitting to it after he won the Players' Association award.
"It's not going to help us win. If it's not going to help us win, it's not something I'm concerned about," he said.
"The longer you play, the more you understand just how rare finals are. This is my ninth season. I've played in one preliminary before and I hated that feeling of losing it, and we did as a team at the time.
"I don't want to be there again."
Taking a more light-hearted tone with Matthew Richardson after being selected in the All Australian side for the fourth time, Dangerfield said he "can't wait" to have the medal around his neck.
"You can't (say) that, can you?" Dangerfield added.
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