The most arduous task facing the AFL in 2016 — the stripping of Jobe Watson's Brownlow Medal — was one the game's governors believed they would never have to make.

That is because senior and long-standing commissioners thought — and certainly hoped — that Watson would make the decision for them. At one stage they considered officially offering the Essendon captain the opportunity to make the call to offer up the 2012 medal.

Jobe Watson with the 2012 Brownlow Medal. Credit:Paul Rovere

Instead, in the hours that followed the early-morning bombshell on January 11, the AFL chose instead to call the Essendon captain to front the game's governors to put forward his views on the issue. It chose not to put the voluntary option in writing of Watson handing the medal back. But they did give him some weeks to think about it.

The letter was drafted by Gillon McLachlan and his legal executive Andrew Dillon. Looking back, it seemed a strange tactic given everyone in power was acutely aware at that stage there was no alternative but to remove the game's highest individual honour. Surely, even with McLachlan at the helm, this was never going to be a negotiation. Particularly when it quickly became clear that Watson would not proffer the medal.