Trent Cotchin, Sam Mitchell should now receive 2012 Brownlow Medal, believe two former winners

But 2008 winner Adam Cooney says Jobe Watson jumped too early in returning his Brownlow Medal, with the former Bulldog admitting he would’ve forced the AFL to “come to my house and rip it back off me”.

The AFL Commission will meet on Tuesday to decide the fate of the 2012 Brownlow after Watson voluntarily handed back his award to the league on Friday in the wake of the 34 past and present Essendon players’ failed appeal to overturn doping bans.

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Cotchin and Mitchell polled 26 votes each in that season’s count to finish equal-second behind Watson, who picked up 30 votes to claim the prize.

Following Watson’s shock call, Cooney said the AFL Commission must award the medal to Cotchin and Mitchell, who produced excellent 2012 seasons for Richmond and Hawthorn respectively.

“I think the players that were next in line deserve some sort of recognition,” Cooney told Fox Sports News.

“It certainly would (be weird receiving the medal in these circumstances), but you accept those sorts of plaudits when they come along. In 20 years’ time it’s a strange story to tell, but you are a Brownlow Medallist.

“I’d certainly be accepting it if I was those two guys.”

In his statement on Friday, Watson said it was “now up to the AFL Commission at their meeting on Tuesday to make a decision as to what they want to do with it”.

Three-time Brisbane premiership player Jason Akermanis said he interpreted those comments as Watson giving the Commission his blessing to hand Brownlows over to Cotchin and Mitchell.

“He is endorsing the fact that the AFL now has the choice to give it to the guys that actually came equal-second in the end,” Akermanis told Fox Sports News.

“They should give it to those guys. They’re just as deserving, they had great years.

“By the rules, those two should be awarded the Brownlow, which is just wonderful for those two players.”

However Akermanis and Cooney differed on whether Watson had made the right call to give his medal up.

Cooney, who played eight games with Watson during the 2015 season, admitted he wasn’t surprised by Watson’s call given his “high integrity and huge character”, but said he wouldn’t have done the same thing if he was in his former teammate’s position.

“Handing back the Brownlow in the same week that he has come back to train probably opens up a few old wounds I’d suspect,” Cooney said.

“But in my position, I think I’d make the AFL come to my house and rip it back off me.”

But Akermanis said Watson’s decision to essentially save the AFL Commission an important part of its decision-making process was “just a wonderful thing”.

Originally published as Cotchin, Mitchell deserve medal: Past winners