When is the Brownlow Medal, how can I stream the Brownlow and who are the favourites to win?

Football’s night of nights is almost here.

The game’s top individual honour will be awarded at Monday night’s Brownlow Medal count, with all eyes on whether anyone can stop Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos.

Below is everything you need to know about the 2025 Brownlow Medal.

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WHEN IS THE BROWNLOW MEDAL?

The Brownlow Medal will be held on Monday September 22, the traditional slot at the start of the week leading into the grand final.

Coverage will kick off from 7.30pm (AEST), with the count to then get underway from 8pm.

WHERE IS THE BROWNLOW MEDAL HELD?

The Brownlow Medal count will be held at Crown Palladium in Melbourne.

HOW CAN I FOLLOW THE BROWNLOW MEDAL COUNT?

All coverage of the event can be followed on Foxfooty.com.au. It’ll include the red carpet, every vote in our live Brownlow Tracker, all the news – including Goal of the Year and Mark of the Year winners – plus the wash-up the following morning.

You can tune into the Brownlow Medal on Channel 7 from 7:30pm (AEST) in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and stream it on 7Plus or via the AFL Live app.

HOW IS THE BROWNLOW MEDAL DECIDED?

Umpires vote 3-2-1 for the best and fairest players in every match. The player who receives the most votes at the end of the home and away season is declared the winner.

Should two or more players lead the count in a tie, multiple winners are crowned.

Players who were suspended are deemed ineligible.

WHEN WILL THE BROWNLOW MEDAL WINNER BE ANNOUNCED?

The Brownlow Medal count begins at 8pm AEST, and expect the winner to be confirmed at around 10:30pm AEST.

WHEN ARE THE GOAL OF THE YEAR AND MARK OF THE YEAR WINNERS ANNOUNCED?

Both the Goal of the Year and Mark of the Year winners will be revealed on Brownlow Medal night, at a time TBA.

HOW MANY VOTES DO YOU NEED TO WIN THE BROWNLOW?

Historically, you needed to poll 30-plus votes to take out ‘Charlie’.

From the start of the 18-team AFL era until 2023, the Brownlow winner averaged just under 31 votes.

But everything changed in 2024, when Nick Daicos polled a record-setting 38 votes… and lost by seven to Patrick Cripps’ utterly ridiculous total of 45 votes.

It’s unclear this is a one-year aberration or the new normal.

The previous record for the most votes in a season under the current system was 36, set by Dustin Martin (2017) and Ollie Wines (2021).

WHO ARE THE BROWNLOW MEDAL FAVOURITES?

It has felt like Nick Daicos was bound to become a Brownlow medallist ever since he debuted at AFL level.

In his first three seasons, he has polled a remarkable 77 votes – putting him in the top 200 players all-time and above contemporaries like Isaac Heeney, Stephen Coniglio, Brodie Grundy and Touk Miller, as well as multiple winners of the award.

A record-setting 38 votes last year were not enough, but with the man who beat him last year (Patrick Cripps) having had a below-par season, Daicos heads into the 2025 count as the warm favourite. And according to many statistical models, he’s the hot favourite.

But the bookmakers believe there’s a realistic chance Daicos can be beaten, and it would be an incredible story if second-favourite Bailey Smith got over the line.

Wanting more time in the midfield, Smith requested a trade from the Western Bulldogs to Geelong last year – and after spending a month in a psych ward, has played the best season of his young career.

Missing a few games through injury will hurt his chances, whereas Adelaide’s Jordan Dawson was a frequent, brilliant fixture in Adelaide’s rise from 15th to the minor premiership.

The case for Dawson is simple – the Crows won 18 games, and few teammates are likely to take huge numbers of votes off of him, aside from Riley Thilthorpe and Izak Rankine.

The only other players given a realistic chance of winning the Brownlow have the opposite problem, because Gold Coast guns and best mates Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell will poach votes off the other repeatedly.

In almost every Suns win, at least one of them was amongst the best on ground, but unless the umpires ignore one of them it appears almost certain their vote ceilings will be limited – simply because you’re not gonna have two teammates going over 30.

BROWNLOW MEDAL WINNER ODDS

Nick Daicos $2.60

Bailey Smith $4.50

Jordan Dawson $5.50

Noah Anderson $6

Matt Rowell $8.50

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera $26

More available from $41

All odds via Pointsbet as of 10pm Monday

WHO’S INVITED TO THE BROWNLOW MEDAL COUNT?

TBA

NOTABLE INELIGIBLE PLAYERS

Adelaide Crows

James Peatling, Rory Laird

Brisbane Lions

Zac Bailey

Carlton

Nil

Collingwood

Dan Houston

Essendon

Sam Durham, Dylan Shiel

Fremantle

Patrick Voss

Geelong

Shannon Neale

Gold Coast Suns

Nil

GWS Giants

Toby Greene

Hawthorn

Conor Nash

Melbourne

Steven May

North Melbourne

Tristan Xerri, Paul Curtis

Port Adelaide

Ollie Wines, Darcy Byrne-Jones

Richmond

Tom Lynch, Rhyan Mansell

St Kilda

Nil

Sydney Swans

Callum Mills, Justin McInerney, Joel Amartey

West Coast Eagles

Liam Baker, Liam Duggan

Western Bulldogs

Nil

WHO ARE THE PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE BROWNLOW MEDAL?

2010: Chris Judd (Carlton) [30 votes]

2011: Dane Swan (Collingwood) [34 votes]

2012: Trent Cotchin (Richmond) and Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) [26 votes] (Jobe Watson 30 votes stripped of medal)

2013: Gary Ablett (Gold Coast) [28 votes]

2014: Matt Priddis (West Coast) [26 votes]

2015: Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) [31 votes]

2016: Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong) [35 votes]

2017: Dustin Martin (Richmond) [36 votes]

2018: Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn) [28 votes]

2019: Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) [33 votes]

2020: Lachie Neale (Brisbane Lions) [31 votes, shortened season]

2021: Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide) [36 votes]

2022: Patrick Cripps (Carlton) [29 votes]

2023: Lachie Neale (Brisbane Lions) [31 votes]

2024: Patrick Cripps (Carlton) [45 votes]