On the face of it, the Brownlow medallist finishing runner-up in his own club award, is a major upset.

Not so at the West Coast Eagles Club Champion Awards when Matt Priddis tonight finished second in a tight count. With Priddis finishing second, it left Eric Mackenzie to join the ranks of the club’s elite, winning the John Worsfold Medal by a narrow margin.

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While Priddis was exceptional through the midfield, Mackenzie was almost impeccable in the back half.

The gap between Priddis’ his best and worst are minute and allows the coaching staff to prepare with some confidence around his output. One of the best stoppage players in the competition, he was brilliant in close all year.

From a football follower’s point of view, this season’s count always appeared to be a race in two – although there are a cluster of others in the frame – with Priddis and key defender Mackenzie leading the way. Like Priddis, the tenacious Mackenzie rarely plays a sub-standard game and he was able to go one better than his runner-up effort in 2013.

Priddis enjoyed an outstanding season evidenced by his win in the Brownlow Medal, where he was No.1 in the AFL for total disposals and handballs, No.2 for contested possessions and No.3 for tackles, underlining his stoppage efficiency.

In the Brownlow count he finished strongly, polling heavily in six of the last eight games, where he racked up 12 of his 26 votes. So if he is in the lead – or close to it – in the last six or seven games he will take some stopping.

Given West Coast won five of their last seven games, however, that theme ran strongly through all of the main contenders – Mackenzie, Josh Kennedy, Andrew Gaff, Jack Darling and Luke Shuey.

Priddis averaged better than 28 possessions a game, elite numbers in the midfield cauldron, and did so much to set up the team’s offensive ball movement.

He has finished in the top two four times in the past five seasons, which gsive him an amazing record at the Club Champion Awards.