Bizarre votes which handed Sun shock win; new unluckiest man in footy — Brownlow Talking Pts

Find someone who loves you like AFL umpires love an inside midfielder.

Matt Rowell’s stunning Brownlow Medal win was sparked by a remarkable run of early-season votes which few saw coming.

Not only did he break an AFL record by polling 12 of a possible 12 votes from his club’s first four games of the season, but he was on 20 votes after nine games.

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The votes didn’t stop there, Rowell polling in 10 of his last 11 matches – including a run of 14 votes between Rounds 15 and 20 – to clinch the medal on 39 votes.

Rowell came into the night as the fifth-favourite, at $13 with Pointsbet; the same odds Lachie Neale had when he upset Nick Daicos and Marcus Bontempelli to win his second medal in 2023.

The two Queensland-based guns are therefore tied as the biggest outsiders to win the Brownlow since Matt Priddis in 2014.

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He’s an absolute superstar of the competition, no doubt about that. But whenever you get an unexpected result like this, something odd has happened.

Here’s how Rowell got the job done – and the man whose votes he took in the process.

MATT WOW-ELL

It’s worth remembering what Rowell does right – he’s an incredible contested beast, who led the AFL in pressure acts and was third for tackles. He’s in the umpires’ face constantly.

Combine that with his best-ever season as he added a much better outside game and you can understand why he polled well.

Maybe not THIS well, though.

Based on the projections of the incredible Wheelo Ratings, Rowell polled almost 14 more votes than expected – finishing on 39, the second-most in Brownlow history, behind last year’s winner Patrick Cripps.

The next-best was Chad Warner polling 21 votes when he was tipped to receive 10 or 11.

How did Rowell do it? Well, the umpires loved performances that the coaches simply didn’t.

The Suns midfielder polled 11 Brownlow votes across four games where he did not poll a single coaches’ vote.

Polling when he shouldn’t have?

Round 4 vs Adelaide (17 disposals, 8 tackles, 8 clangers): 0 coaches’ votes, 3 Brownlow votes

Round 7 vs Sydney (16 disposals, 7 clearances, 10 clangers): 0 coaches’ votes, 3 Brownlow votes

Round 9 vs Western Bulldogs (20 disposals, 5 clearances): 0 coaches’ votes, 3 Brownlow votes

Round 17 vs Essendon (15 disposals, 17 tackles): 0 coaches’ votes, 2 Brownlow votes

Throw in three votes polled in a loss against GWS, when his teammate Noah Anderson was best on ground according to the coaches and only polled the one, as well.

In total, there were 13 games where a player polled 3 Brownlow votes but no coaches votes this season. Rowell had three of them.

BUT NO VOTES FOR NOAH?

A late-season charge ensured Noah Anderson’s vote total was respectable, finishing on 25, and no duo from a single club have ever polled more than he and Rowell’s 64 votes.

But he still underperformed as Rowell consistently took votes off of him.

The coaches loved Anderson’s early season work, but the umpires didn’t, as he polled a combined one Brownlow vote in games which he received 36 coaches’ votes.

Not polling when he should have?

Round 1 vs West Coast (36 disposals, 9 clearances): 8 coaches votes (second best on ground), 0 Brownlow votes

Round 5 vs North Melbourne (27 disposals, 6 clearances): 9 coaches votes (best on ground), 0 Brownlow votes

Round 10 vs Hawthorn (35 disposals, 1 goal, 12 clearances): 10 coaches votes (best on ground), 0 Brownlow votes

Round 15 vs GWS (42 disposals, 2 goals, 7 clearances): 9 coaches votes (best on ground), 1 Brownlow vote

It’s worth reminding ourselves through all of this that the Brownlow’s imperfections are what makes it so interesting.

The umpires are a unique set of observers. And if the results just played out exactly as we expected, as if Champion Data was handing out the votes, it’d be pretty damn boring.

It’s still worth noting that Rowell in this circumstance is a strange winner – he was fifth-favourite to win the medal, and had it clinched with three games left. That’s really weird!

Not as weird as Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera not polling the three votes for the game he single-handedly won against Melbourne, though.

That was the worst decision in Brownlow history and if you’re gonna review the voting system, THAT decision is why.

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NO LUCK NICK

Just four men have polled 100 or more Brownlow votes in their first 100 home and away games – Haydn Bunton senior, Dick Reynolds, Nat Fyfe and Nick Daicos.

Those men have won a combined eight Brownlow medals. Daicos, of course, has none of them.

The Collingwood superstar – bizarrely maligned by many fans for his perceived flaws – has polled a remarkable 98 votes in the last three seasons yet is stuck on the lower steps of the podium, finishing third in 2023, then second in 2024 and 2025.

Daicos is now threatening to join the likes of Marcus Bontempelli as the best player to never win a Brownlow… having played just four AFL seasons.

We would still put Bontempelli ahead in that unfortunate race but it’s worth pointing out how unfortunate Daicos has been not to win at least one Brownlow.

It’s not like he massively underperformed expectations, polling 32 votes. Coming into the night the most optimistic projection systems had him polling 35 votes.

None of his teammates took a bunch of votes off him – his brother Josh polled a few more than expected, but that’s about it.

Daicos would have had to over-perform to beat Rowell this year. The problem wasn’t Daicos being robbed; it was just Rowell getting an incredible and unexpected amount of love from the umpires.

Which is weird, because Rowell doesn’t play for a big Victorian club.

AND AT THE BOTTOM

West Coast polled a combined 12 votes, the lowest total in V/AFL history (under the 3-2-1 voting system).

It broke their own record of 15, set in 2022.

Harley Reid and Liam Ryan tied for the club lead with three votes each, Ryan polling the three in their lone win against St Kilda.