Gold Coast Suns new superstar Matt Rowell has stunned the footballing world, taking out the AFL’s highest individual honour by claiming the 2025 Brownlow Medal.
It was a coming of age season for the Sun’s midfield maestro, pairing a maiden All-Australian blazer with a 39 vote Brownlow Medal win.
Rowell - who came into the night as a $13 outsider - burst out of the blocks, accumulating maximum votes from his first four rounds.
By round ten, Rowell sat comfortably atop the leaderboard with 20 votes from a possible 27.
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But from that moment the Rowell train finally started to slow, allowing Andrew Brayshaw of Fremantle and Bailey Smith of Geelong to catch up and trail by a single vote at the end of Round 14, whilst Brownlow favourite Nick Daicos kept within six votes throughout the entirety of the count.
But Rowell had an answer for every challenge, including a maximum vote performance against Brisbane Lions in round 20 which all but locked up an outstanding Brownlow victory,
With career best averages of 26.2 disposals, 8.5 tackles and 8.2 clearances a game, Rowell powered the Suns to their best ever home and away season, finishing with 15 wins for seventh place.
Rowell polled maximum votes in eight games and polled in 16 games in total.
The former number one pick becomes Gold Coast’s second Brownlow medallist in their history, following on from AFL legend Gary Ablett Jr.
2025 Brownlow Medal final leaderboard
- Matt Rowell (Gold Coast) - 39 votes
- Nick Daicos (Collingwood) - 32
- Bailey Smith (Geelong) - 29
- Jordan Dawson (Adelaide) - 27
- Andrew Brayshaw (Fremantle) - 26
- Noah Anderson (Gold Coast) - 25
- Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs) - 25
- Caleb Serong (Fremantle) - 25
- Max Gawn (Melbourne) - 23
- Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (St Kilda) - 23