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Through the early rounds of the 2001 Brownlow Medal count Megan Legge sat beside her fiancée Jason Akermanis, busily sending
updates to her parents via text message on her mobile phone.
She didnt have to do so for too long. Instead, they kept
up with the count via a radio broadcast. And it was just as well because it would have been an impossible task as the evening
unfolded for her to do justice to the news that would follow. Impossible just to concentrate. Impossible not to get carried
away.
So, the girl who on 12 October would become Mrs Jason Akermanis, settled back to enjoy the count. And, despite
the tension of it all, she and her long-time partner did so very nicely.
How? Because Akermanis himself was the epitome
of composure. He led the most prestigious individual award in the game by two votes after Round 18, with just four rounds
to play, but remained steadfastly convinced that Adelaides Andrew McLeod would run away with the medal.
I thought he
would get at least five votes more, so thats why I seemed so relaxed, Akermanis said later, knowing he had also missed the
Round 20 clash with Fremantle through injury.
Akermanis appeared to be right when McLeod polled a best-on-ground in
a losing side against Port Adelaide in Round 19 to hit the front with 21 votes.
But the tension started to build around
him in the Legends Room at the Gabba, where Akermanis and teammates Michael Voss, Simon Black and Nigel Lappin enjoyed the
count via video link after being excused from travelling to Melbourne for the formal dinner in Grand Final week due to airline
chaos.
McLeod, a hot pre-count favorite, missed out in Rounds 20 and 21 when the Crows had big wins over North Melbourne
and Hawthorn. Then the room at the Gabba, jammed full with 450 guests, erupted when Akermanis polled three votes against Geelong
in the penultimate round to wrest back the lead by two.
I remember playing not so bad at Geelong, he said. Its funny
because the man I was on (David Clarke) got one vote .
So to the last round.
Akermanis had been quiet by his
own high standards against Sydney at the Gabba, while McLeod had collected a personal season-high 38 possessions in a six-goal
losing side against Fremantle in Perth. Peter Bell had notched 44 touches for the Dockers, but would the umpires notice?
A
swarm of photographers ringed Akermanis table as AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson exacerbated the tension by leaving the
Lions-Swans votes to the second last card called on the night.
No surprises. Akermanis, already with five threes and
five twos, did not poll a vote.
Then it was Fremantle against Adelaide. One vote Fremantle Heath Black. Two votes
Fremantle Adrian Fletcher. Three votes Fremantle .
Nobody in Brisbane heard another word. The crowd exploded and the
flash bulbs went off in unison. He had won. The second Queenslander behind Voss to claim the Brownlow Medal.
Akermanis
put his face in his hands and shook his head as Megan gave him a loving hug. I just remember looking at Megan and going Ive
actually won this. I said to Vossy whats happening, Ive won it, what do we do now? And he just said to walk up there (to the
podium), and that was it.
It was a surreal feeling it always takes a while to sink in anywaythe words probably dont
come out the way they should do.
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