Brownlow Medal 2014: Humble Eagle Matt Priddis upsets the fancied runners

There had been an expectation that Joel Selwood would lower his head, no-one would jeer, and his reward would be far greater than any routine free kick – former teammate Gary Ablett draping the Brownlow Medal around his neck. There would have been no petty sneering over such a verdict.

If not Selwood it would surely be Ablett for a third time, because he would poll pretty much every time his shining head was seen on a football ground in 2014. He would go down and not get up again in round 16, but perhaps by then the rest would be choking on his dust.

Scriptwriters who see romance in dollar signs liked Lance Franklin's credentials – from Hawthorn premiership player to Bondi billionaire to Brownlow to another flag, all in little more than the stroke of a pen. Or his teammate Josh Kennedy, he of the pedigree of brown and gold royalty, the handsome face and the Colombian girlfriend. Those who love a dash of controversy looked to Nat Fyfe, the Docker who seemingly does everything twice as well as mere mortals, but overstretched the point in getting himself suspended twice this season. He missed four games, yet led until the orchestrated last votes of the count.

Nobody – at least not on the insular east coast – gave a thought to a 29-year-old workhorse from West Coast, distinguished by a beach bum's hair and an unerring ability to grind through games and just keep on getting the ball or bringing down opponents who get it first.

Matt Priddis was a surprise winner, but in a game so tilted to weight of possession and first use of the ball, he is a worthy one. His is a very modern AFL story – overlooked in four national drafts, a rookie when at last he was taken in 2006, a player who has always got the best out of himself and is now distinguished as a master at making those around him better. He is the first to acknowledge his lack of leg speed; the upside is that his creative toil happens under the umpires' noses.

"I was never going to give up because it was an absolute childhood dream," Priddis said. Just being taken by West Coast from Subiaco was the happiest day of his life; he now has a new benchmark.

Wife Ashleigh was at home, 23 weeks pregnant with their second child and not feeling the best. He sent his love and thanks for their 12 years together, and said being a father to their daughter Nala had completed him, inspiring the best two seasons of his 173-game career.

Asked by Bruce McAvaney, when he took the lead of the legitimate runners after round 20, if he was nervous, Priddis replied: "I am now." He never expected to win, and his humility in doing so was striking. "I was really hoping for Joel Selwood, he's been so good for so long," he said.

Later, he was unsure he was worthy of the company he now keeps as a winner of the game's highest individual honour. "People don't understand over here how highly he's regarded," Eagles coach Adam Simpson said, adding that Priddis had no need to feel embarrassed.

After finishing fifth, fourth and runner-up last year – a solitary vote behind Ablett – Selwood's Brownlow momentum was undeniable. He was tipped to poll well early (and did so), stagnate in the middle rounds (likewise), and finish full of running. There wasn't enough of the latter; after 14 rounds he had only 10 votes and was in familiar territory – midfield beneath a swarm of bodies. In games he

Ablett had an unprecedented 14votes after only seven rounds, and two in the round-14 defeat of his old team took him to 20 for an incredible eighth season running, another of the various feats to which only the junior Gary Ablett can lay claim. He was five votes clear of Josh Kennedy entering round 16 but his collarbone broke soon after half-time and snapped – for now – his chance of joining the triple Brownlow winning legends.

Priddis has one more than he ever expected, a feat that for a humble man feels like an impossible dream.