GEELONG'S season of unsurpassing excellence continued apace last night when midfielder Jimmy Bartel streeted the field to win the Brownlow Medal with so much to spare it did not matter that he missed the last two games because of an appendix operation.

Bartel (29 votes) won from the Kangaroos' Brent Harvey, Brisbane's Simon Black and West Coast's Daniel Kerr (all 22). Black, the 2002 winner, was the surprise performer on the night.

Kerr, who was ineligible because of suspension, finished in the top three for the third year in a row. Pre-count favourite Gary Ablett finished with 20 votes and bitter-sweet memories: three times, Bartel pipped him for best-on-ground.

Bartel, 23, polled three votes in the Cats' round 20 game against the Kangaroos, ensuring no player could catch him. It made for an anti-climactic finish to the gala count, necessitating that AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou rush through the hollow details of the last two rounds to complete the reckoning.

The interregnum gave Bartel time to compose himself, but only just. "I'm trying not to shake up here," he said. Bartel typifies Geelong. He was born there, barracked for the club, played locally for Bell Park and went to school with teammate Cameron Ling. His date at the medal count last night was another teammate, Tim Callan, who played in Geelong's VFL premiership side on Sunday.

Bartel also characterises the contrast between last season and this for the Cats. Last year, he polled just two Brownlow votes. This year, he polled 29, the most ever by a Geelong player, and was an all-Australian. For the all-conquering from Kardinia Park, only the premiership pennant remains.

The feature of the count was the way the stars polled votes in streaks. Judd, latterly of West Coast, polled in each of the first eight rounds, and then led the count by five votes. Thus he became the first player since detailed records were kept to poll in eight successive rounds. This titbit was immediately to compere Bruce McAvaney's hand, though the votes supposedly were under lock and key until the start of the count.

Judd led until the mid-point of the season, ceding then to Bartel and Brisbane's Black, a previous winner who was unfancied last night. Teammate Jonathan Brown was expected to fare better.

Gary Ablett did not record a vote until round six, then polled in 10 of the next 13 games. But he suffered from competition from teammates in Geelong's all-conquering team. Only twice in that stretch was he judged best-on-ground. Three times, teammate Bartel pipped him for three votes in a game. Bartel himself was best-on-ground in four of the last five games he played in the home-and-away season. Together, he and Ablett won more votes than any pair of players from one club previously.

The Kangaroos' Brent Harvey was unseen until round eight, but was best-on-ground five games in a row from round 13, the first time since 1985 that a player has had such a hot streak. Brisbane's Brown was best-on-ground three times in a row from round 16.

As usual, some favourites polled poorly, some outsiders emerged from the clouds. Port Adelaide's Chad Cornes, second only to Ablett in betting, polled 12 votes. He will seek redress in Saturday's grand final.

But Collingwood ball magnet Dane Swan won votes consistently throughout the season and finished with 20 votes. Swan was so little regarded that he was not invited to the count and was out last night drinking with teammates to mark the end of the Magpies' season, prompting a moment of panic for AFL officials. Momentarily, it seemed he might have the maddest Monday of all. The lesson in these swings and roundabouts, well-rehearsed for 20 years, is that midfielders have and hold the umpires' eye.

The Brownlow count was reliably glamorous, at least in what went to air. The women, as ever, were lavishly dressed; so were the men, a developing trend. It was a moot point which gender was fiercer in its competition. James Hird made this point when he and fellow retiring champions Glenn Archer, Mark Riciutto and Anthony Koutoufides were feted.

But at its unlit edges, Brownlow night is a pie night. Once the cameras turn away, the women talk fashion, the men football. Doubtlessly, a pitch was put to Judd sometime during the course of the night, and the contest for next year's Brownlow begun.