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Gold Coast Suns star Matt Rowell won this season’s Brownlow Medal in stunning scenes at Melbourne’s Crown casino.

The top pick in the 2019 national draft, Rowell, now 24, started the night like a freight train – polling a perfect 12 votes from his first four matches of the season (a record) and taking a commanding early lead over the likes of last year’s runner-up and Collingwood favourite son Nick Daicos, Geelong star Bailey Smith, and Adelaide skipper Jordan Dawson.

Daicos, in particular, pushed Rowell in the closing rounds of the count, but the hard-nosed Suns midfielder won by seven with 39 votes. It was the second-highest tally ever, behind only Patrick Cripps’ 45 votes last year.

“It sounds pretty surreal. I can’t believe I’m standing up here tonight. There are a lot of g

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