‘Cannot believe I’m standing here’: Brownlow medallist Matt Rowell’s candid speech after upset win

Matt Rowell has opened up on his “weird” footy tendencies during a candid Brownlow Medal acceptance speech on Monday night.

Rowell became the newest Brownlow medallist after a boilover count that saw the brilliant Gold Coast midfielder surge past Collingwood favourite Nick Daicos to win by seven votes with a final tally of 39.

The 24-year-old former no.1 draft pick explained during his speech at Crown Palladium he was “probably a bit of a weirdo” for carrying a footy around everywhere, but it’s his habit of eating grass pre-game that most fans will recall.

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Asked by Channel Seven host Hamish McLachlan why he started doing that, Rowell explained his “grounding process”.

“There’s another reason why I’m a weirdo,” Rowell began.

“I started doing that a few years ago. You try a lot of weird things, and that was just kind of like a grounding process that I wanted to do before games; feel, sight, taste — obviously. Yeah.

“Those are the kind of things that you do. Actually, someone in Darwin — I was playing in Darwin in a game a few years ago and they said: ‘We saw you eat the grass before the game, but it goes through the sewerage, the grass or something, here, the water or something. So, you might want to check that nothing is wrong with you after this.’

“That was a bit of a strange one, but yeah.”

Overall, Rowell — who stunned pundits by comfortably out-polling teammate and close friend Noah Anderson — said it was “pretty surreal” to be referred to as a Brownlow medallist.

“I cannot believe I’m standing up here tonight … I think a lot of boys could be standing up here tonight, so I feel very humbled and very honoured to be up here,” Rowell said.

Asked if he had any sense that winning the prestigious award was on the cards, he said: “Maybe a little bit — I came in tonight and was just happy to maybe be one of the contenders. I don’t know, I did not think I would win, and it is amazing to be standing up here.

“I am pretty speechless, to be honest, as you can probably tell … I need to get some words going.”

Rowell, who grew up in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, was a Carlton supporter growing up — revealing he sported Eddie Betts’ no.19 on his back as a child.

“I loved watching Eddie go about it. There were a lot of lean years watching the Blues throughout my (childhood), but Eddie brought a smile to the face and kicked a lot of cool goals. ‘Juddy’ (Chris Judd) as well, when he came to Carlton.”

Rowell also spoke of his close connection with former Blues 200-gamer Michael Sexton.

“Michael Sexton had a big impact on me. His son grew up with me; we went to kinder together,” Rowell said.

“We played footy together at Canterbury Cobras and he (Michael) obviously played 200 games at Carlton Football Club, and my parents were family friends with them. I grew up around Mick, he did a bit of coaching at Canterbury, and yeah, probably a mentor without knowing it when I was a little fella going about my footy.

“(He) always just made sure that I nailed the fundamentals of the game and just really to make sure I enjoyed loving playing footy and playing with my teammates. I still keep in contact with him today and, yeah, pretty cool.”

Rowell and Suns captain Anderson combined for 64 votes on Monday night — the most ever by a pair at one club together — with the pair forging a tight bond during their formative years at Carey Grammar.

“It is kind of cool going through the whole journey with him (Anderson). I think I might have pinched a few votes off him that he should have got,” Rowell said.

“Just to go through the whole journey with him and go to Carey and to be drafted together was cool. It made it a lot easier, I guess, to transition into the AFL. There are good photos there, looking very young.

“But, yeah, I love playing with him, but I love him as a mate as well. That friendship means a lot to me, and it is not very often that you get to go to an AFL club with your best mate.

“We want to go on that journey together, like winning the premiership in Year 12 (at Carey, with Nick Daicos). We would love to do that at an AFL club … I love playing with him and I love him as a bloke.”