Dustin Martin has won the 2017 Brownlow Medal with a record 35 votes during Richmond’s grand final run.
The 26-year-old midfielder was the hot favourite since defending champion Patrick Dangerfield was suspended after round 19, making him ineligible.
He was named the winner after the vote count at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Monday night, days before Saturday’s Richmond vs Adelaide Grand Final.
Dustin Martin has won the 2017 Brownlow Medal with a record 35 votes during Richmond’s grand final run
Winning the coveted AFL best and fairest medal marks a stunning turnaround from footy bad boy to Australia’s best player on a contending team.
Martin is the sixth Richmond player to win the Brownlow, eight seasons after he was the third overall pick in the 2009 AFL draft.
The Brownlow Medal is the AFL’s night of nights where the finest player through the regular season is crowned the sport’s best and fairest.
The evening tracks the votes of each game of every round through the season as selected by the three on-field umpires in each match.
Best player on ground is awarded three points with two and one votes given to the next two best players, then added up on Brownlow night.
He was named the winner after the vote count at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Monday night, days before Saturday’s Richmond vs Adelaide Grand Final
It wasn’t an easy road to the top for the heavily-tattooed Tigers superstar after he dropped out of school in Year 9 and moved to Sydney with his alleged bikie father.
From accusations he threatened to stab a woman with a chopstick, to his father’s alleged bikie links, Martin has seen more than his share of controversy during a tumultuous career.
He worked 12-hour days as a forklift driver in Campbelltown in the city’s south-west, yearning for a ‘normal life’ at his father’s transport business.
After missing his mates and growing a ‘bit sick of’ sitting on a forklift all day, Martin moved back to his hometown of Castlemaine, Victoria, in 2007.
Two stellar seasons in local leagues later, he was drafted to the Tigers at pick number three in 2009 and quickly made a name for himself as a future champion.