One of the most thrilling Brownlow nights in recent memory looms, with two superstars tipped to duel it out for the AFL’s top gong – and a potential three-time winner trying to repeat his 2023 heroics. Follow the count from 8pm AEST!
Collingwood sensation Nick Daicos and inspirational Carlton captain Patrick Cripps head into the count virtually tied for favouritism, both amongst tipsters and in the betting odds.
Daicos, in his third AFL season, is trying to win his first Brownlow after coming so close in 2023 but falling short due to a late-season injury. Cripps, at his best in season 11, is trying to win a second after his 2022 triumph.
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Having both finished the season brilliantly, the race could go down to the wire, with the potential for the first on-the-night tie since 2003 when Mark Ricciuto, Nathan Buckley and Adam Goodes finished level. (The tie in 2012 between Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin was retroactive, with Essendon’s Jobe Watson stripped of his medal due to the club’s drugs saga.)
Daicos and Cripps could also join tied pairs like Michael Voss and James Hird (1996), Tony Lockett and John Platten (1987), Robert DiPierdomenico and Greg Williams (1986), and seven other groups. In total there have been 12 ties for the Brownlow.
But lurking behind the pair is Brisbane’s Lachie Neale, last year’s surprise winner who has again led his Lions into a Grand Final, and could become the first man in the AFL era to win three Brownlows.
Neale would enter football immortality if he claims another Charlie, joining Fitzroy’s Haydn Bunton (1931, 1932, 1935), St Kilda and Richmond’s Ian Stewart (1965, 1966, 1971), Essendon’s Dick Reynolds (1934, 1937, 1938) and South Melbourne’s Bob Skilton (1959, 1963, 1968) in the three-time winners club.
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But lurking behind the pair is Brisbane’s Lachie Neale, last year’s surprise winner who has again led his Lions into a Grand Final, and could become the first man in the AFL era to win three Brownlows.
Neale would enter football immortality if he claims another Charlie, joining Fitzroy’s Haydn Bunton (1931, 1932, 1935), St Kilda and Richmond’s Ian Stewart (1965, 1966, 1971), Essendon’s Dick Reynolds (1934, 1937, 1938) and South Melbourne’s Bob Skilton (1959, 1963, 1968) in the three-time winners club.
On the outside of the race is arguably the best active player without a Brownlow, the Western Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli, who was named captain of the All-Australian team and claimed the player-voted MVP for the third time in four seasons.
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Sydney superstar Isaac Heeney, who lifted his game to new heights in 2024 while powering the Swans back into the Grand Final, is hoping his midseason striking suspension which made him ineligible for the Brownlow does not cost him the honour.
Perhaps thankfully for Heeney, after a ridiculously good start to the season he is expected to fade away. If he polls the most votes he will join the ignominious club of ineligible winners, currently made up of Corey McKernan (1996), Chris Grant (1997) and Jobe Watson (2012).
The likes of Patrick Dangerfield (33 votes in 2017, famously failing to poll when he starred in late in the year while known to be ineligible), Sam Mitchell (30 votes in 2011) and Nat Fyfe (25 votes in 2014) have all finished second in recent years while ineligible.
Other dark horses for the count include Heeney’s Swans teammates Errol Gulden and Chad Warner, Fremantle’s Caleb Serong, Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters and Gold Coast’s Noah Anderson.
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