Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown has declared Patrick Dangerfield can win the Brownlow Medal this season amid the Cats veteran’s resurgence up forward.
Dangerfield has booted 11 goals from five games so far in 2025 — including four goals in last Thursday night’s Gather Round win over Adelaide, helping Drag the Cats over the line with two majors in the fourth quarter.
The 35-year old was the No. 7 rated player on the ground against Adelaide and No. 2 rated player against Melbourne in Round 4 in games he spent 77 per cent time forward compared to 48 per cent from Rounds 1 to 3.
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“He could win another Brownlow on the back of playing a bit more forward,” Brown said on Fox Footy’s On the Couch.
“He’s lost none of his power. With those scoreboard numbers, that gets the umpires attention.
“He’s playing half (forward) and half (midfield). Dangerfield draws your eye. He looks magnificent.”
Four-time Coleman medallist Tony Lockett was the last forward to win a Brownlow Medal in 1987 in what’s regarded as a midfielder’s award in the modern era.
Dangerfield, who won the Brownlow in 2016, has booted 346 goals from 342 games playing primarily through the midfield.
The Cats skipper’s current average of 2.2 goals per game would have him on track to surpass his best ever goalkicking return of 45 majors in 2017.
“He’s one of the best players we’ve ever seen,” Hawks legend Jordan Lewis added.
“The power he possesses was always a feature to be able to play forward, it was just a matter of when Geelong was able to pull that trigger and the necessity of it.
“This shouldn’t be a surprise, maybe if you link his age to what he’s been able to do.
“But the way he’s been able to perform in a position he could’ve played 300 games in and kicked 600-700 goals.”
Collingwood champion Nathan Buckley thinks Tigers legend Dustin Martin’s mid-forward role is the most similar comparison to how Dangerfield is playing.
“It’s the 13th time (Dangerfield has) kicked four goals,” Buckley said.
“The last four seasons he’s kicked eight goals, eight goals, 11 goals and eight goals, so he’s hitting the scoreboard a lot heavier than he was after being a goal a game payer throughout his career.
“Dusty was 338 goals from 302 games, a little bit more than a goal a game. You don’t need much more than that in that role to be damaging.”
Brown added: “He’s playing a bit different to Dusty, he’s playing as almost a key forward.. he’s got that brutal game style that can play as a key forward.”
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