Gary Ablett has become the runaway favourite to take this year’s Brownlow Medal after racking up almost 50 touches against Collingwood on the weekend.
Betting markets have the Gold Coast midfielder at almost unbackabale odds and commentators estimate the star midfield has already notched up more than 30 votes this season.
Ablett – a Geelong premiership player in 2007 and 2009 and Brownlow winner in 2009 – has been the key man in his adopted club’s rise from fledgling status.
Ablett moved from Geelong to start the 2011 season as the Gold Coast’s inaugural captain and the move appears to have reignited his passion for the game.
His dominance has taken Gold Coast to the unexpected potion of being a finals contender and possibly just the second AFL club to claim the Brownlow Medal and Rising Star Award in the same season.
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The 29-year-old is averaging 33 disposals per game and gathered an amazing 49 touches against the Magpies at Metricon Stadium.
Ablett is listed as a $1.50 favourite by leading sports bookmakers with no other player at single-figure odds to claim the 2013 Brownlow Medal for the competition’s best-and-fairest player.
Gold Coast also have the favourite – 19-year-old Jaeger O’Meara – for the Rising Star Award.
Since the Rising Star Award was introduced in 1993, the only time the same club has won the Brownlow and the Rising Star was in 2007 when Geelong’s Jimmy Bartel and Joel Selwood were victorious.
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Ablett played in Geelong’s premiership sides of 2007 and 2009 before becoming Gold Coast’s first skipper in 2011.
The Coleman Medal for the league’s leading goalkicker is an interesting battle, with bookies struggling to separate West Coast’s Josh Kennedy (51 goals) and Hawthorn’s Jarryd Roughead (50) with six rounds remaining.
THE CONTENDERS ACCORDING TO BETTING MARKETS:
BROWNLOW MEDAL BETTING (CENTREBET)
* Gary Ablett (GC) $1.50, Scott Pendlebury (Coll), Joel Selwood (Geel), Michael Barlow (Frem), Dan Hannebery (Syd) all $12.00, Dane Swan (Coll), Sam Mitchell (Haw) both $14.00
BROWNLOW MEDAL BETTING (SPORTSBET)
* Ablett $1.50, Hannebery $10.00, Swan $12.00, Barlow, Pendlebury both $14.00, Mitchell $16.00, Patrick Dangerfield (Adel) $18.00
RISING STAR AWARD BETTING (CENTREBET)
* Jaeger O’Meara (GC) $1.05, Tom Mitchell (Syd) $12.00, Oliver Wines (PtA) $15.00, Brad Crouch (Adel) $26.00, Nick Vlastuin (Rich), Sam Mayes (Bris) both $31.00
RISING STAR AWARD BETTING (SPORTSBET)
* O’Meara $1.05, Wines $13.00, Mitchell $14.00, Crouch $21.00, Vlastuin $21.00, Mayes $26.00
