Mitchell said Fyfe was a deserving victor of the award and he won even more fans with his impressive acceptance speech.
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His 157th AFL game – against Hawthorn on ANZAC Day this year – marked the first time he had drawn Brownlow Medal votes from the umpires.
Cotchin maintained his remarkable level of consistency in the Brownlow Medal.
“It was extreme, it was consistent and yet he’s not satisfied”.
That was heavy favourite Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe, with veteran Mitchell coming third, five votes behind the Dockers midfielder.
The only winners to amass more votes have been St Kilda’s Robert Harvey with 32 in 1998 and Collingwood onballer Dane Swan, who had 34 four years ago.
By the end of the first month of the season it was contenders Fyfe and Hannebery among the pace-setters, with Patrick Dangerfield and Scott Pendlebury also prominent.
He admitted those incidents had rattled him during the season.
Triple M Footy’s Dr Rohan White says there is a real concern of long-term damage if Nat Fyfe keeps playing with the stress reaction in his left fibula.
If you couldn’t get a manicure, spray tan or blow dry on the eastern seaboard on Monday it’s because the biggest sports ball codes in all the land were celebrating their best and fairest awards.
“But I sit with him every day Bruce, I want to talk to an icon of the game like yourself for four hours”.
“That’s certainly something that has been hurled at me over two and a half, three years”.
Mitchell said his wife suggested he should snap up the jumper.
“You could argue that [I benefit from playing “on the edge”]”.
“His legs looked enormous – I couldn’t believe it”, Lyon said.
“So I won’t change the way I play, and, unfortunately, that’s going to cost me games down the track, but it’s my greatest strength”.
Fyfe was walking with a cane at the count after suffering a leg fracture early in the preliminary final.
“The natural leaders find their way to the top, and we’ve got such a broad range of leadership roles in a number of different environments”.
Pearce Hanley polled three votes after recording 35 disposals while captain Tom Rockliff polled one vote. “Since Brett came across from Sydney, he and his family really embraced me”.
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AS IF Nat Fyfe needed anymore attention on Brownlow Medal night.
