Brownlow Medal 2024

[Thunder Shaker]

Cripps has the right profile for Brownlow winners - a good player in an okay team. Not enough other players to steal votes off him.

[stevoswan]

Isaac Heeney has 21 votes after round 10. Paul Kelly won with 21 votes in 1995.

Heeney's total after ten rounds is a record.

[dejavoodoo44]

You'd think that with Gil McLachlan no longer running the AFL, then enough people in the organisation would realise that Hamish McLachlan is a no talent, waste of space, but no, apparently there's no better host to be found.

[stevoswan]

I know a lot say 'move on' when this subject is brought up but it's still a unfathomable mystery how we picked Dylan Stephens over Swans fan Caleb Serong, who currently sits third in this years Brownlow count.

[Thunder Shaker]

Cripps 45
Every other Carlton player combined 42

[Meg]

Cripps 45
Every other Carlton player combined 42

yep, our top three Heeney 28, Gulden 25, Warner 23 totalled 76. Then we had 27 votes spread over nine more players

Total Swans vote = 103

QED

[KTigers]

Cripps 45
Every other Carlton player combined 42

So you can safely say that Cripps was Carlton's best player, leading them as they lost 10 games this season before they did a Bradbury to
make the finals only to be summarily executed in the first half of their EF against Brisbane. If Cripps, Daicos and Serong were so good,
how come their teams lost so many games? The Brownlow voting is really getting silly.

[Thunder Shaker]

Round 1 Collingwood vs Sydney: Chad Warner 3, Heeney 2, Gulden 1. Nick Daicos none.
Round 10 Sydney vs Carlton: Chad Warner 3, Heeney 2, Rowbottom 1. Cripps none.
Round 22 Sydney vs Collingwood: Heeney 3, Nick Daicos 2, Rowbottom 1.

Three games and the two leaders got two votes between them.

[liz]

Round 1 Collingwood vs Sydney: Chad Warner 3, Heeney 2, Gulden 1. Nick Daicos none.
Round 10 Sydney vs Carlton: Chad Warner 3, Heeney 2, Rowbottom 1. Cripps none.
Round 22 Sydney vs Collingwood: Heeney 3, Nick Daicos 2, Rowbottom 1.

Three games and the two leaders got two votes between them.

And that game for which Daicos got two votes against us, he got no votes from the coaches and was ok but not great. Darcy Cameron was by far the best Pie, while Sidebottom was also good.

There was another game that Naicos got three votes for (not against us) for about 15 disposals and after being subbed off at half-time injured. His brother got over 30 disposals that match.

In recent years there's been a trend towards the same players picking up votes from umpires every game, regardless of how they performed. But this year's voting, especially for Daicos and Cripps, took that to a new level. There's no doubt both had good seasons. Maybe one was a worthy winner. But for them both to smash the previous record for most votes in a season illustrates that the umpires are really not that good at paying attention to who is really having an influence.

[imuninformedtwo]

Heeney's suspension and the follow up appeal process were two acts of sheer vindictiveness from this mickey mouse Victorian league IMO. It smacked of 'lets put these NSW upstarts in their place'.....much like the 2016 GF. I thought it was disgusting.

Harley Reid just won Goal of the Year.....it was good but goal of the year? Not sure about that.

I actually liked this, as it required a real amount of pure footy talent, as opposed to the fluke shots that sometimes win.

[imuninformedtwo]

And that game for which Daicos got two votes against us, he got no votes from the coaches and was ok but not great. Darcy Cameron was by far the best Pie, while Sidebottom was also good.

There was another game that Naicos got three votes for (not against us) for about 15 disposals and after being subbed off at half-time injured. His brother got over 30 disposals that match.

In recent years there's been a trend towards the same players picking up votes from umpires every game, regardless of how they performed. But this year's voting, especially for Daicos and Cripps, took that to a new level. There's no doubt both had good seasons. Maybe one was a worthy winner. But for them both to smash the previous record for most votes in a season illustrates that the umpires are really not that good at paying attention to who is really having an influence.

I've held the view for some time that the Coaches Association award is the premier one these days (even if Heeney was pipped after Horse - rightly - kept him out of rd24).

There' are just too many examples of inexplicable voting by the umpires - either in favour of a bloke who had a quiet game, or ignoring a bloke who had a cracker - for it to have real standing. I mean, that round 22 game vs Collingwood is an example, and not just for Naicos. The idea Rowie - and we all know my love of Rowie - deserved a vote that night is nonsense. And I'm not even saying this to be critical of the umpires (though that Naicos example of mistaking him for his brother was hysterical). They are asked to do so much in one of the most complex games in the world to adjudicate, that adding this to their load afterwards is silly.

[KTigers]

At this rate it won't be long before a midfielder from a team that finished 11th picks up 69 votes.

[Danzar]

There's no way the umps are capable of making a clear, informed judgment following a game. It's not going to happen. The addition of a fourth umpire probably makes it worse as you're just getting another perspective from an even smaller pocket of the ground.

Brownlow = Vibe-low in the modern game.

[dejavoodoo44]

And that game for which Daicos got two votes against us, he got no votes from the coaches and was ok but not great. Darcy Cameron was by far the best Pie, while Sidebottom was also good.

There was another game that Naicos got three votes for (not against us) for about 15 disposals and after being subbed off at half-time injured. His brother got over 30 disposals that match.

In recent years there's been a trend towards the same players picking up votes from umpires every game, regardless of how they performed. But this year's voting, especially for Daicos and Cripps, took that to a new level. There's no doubt both had good seasons. Maybe one was a worthy winner. But for them both to smash the previous record for most votes in a season illustrates that the umpires are really not that good at paying attention to who is really having an influence.

Yes, I do wonder how much AFL media the umpires watch and do they get caught up in the hype for certain players?

And while it's hardly worth mentioning that the Brownlow is a midfielder's award, one thing that's probably worth mentioning, is that there's a strong correlation between contested possessions and votes. That is, for the majority of clubs, the person with the most contested possessions got the most votes (if you exclude ruckmen, who usually get less votes than smaller mids).

The clubs where that was true, were: Brisbane (Neale), Carlton (Cripps), Collingwood (Naicos), Essendon (Merrett), Fremantle (Serong), Gold Coast (Rowell), GWS (Green), Hawthorn (Newcombe), North (Davies-Uniacke; though Xerri had the most CPs), Richmond (Taranto; who was equal with Bolton), Sydney (Heeney; Grundy most CPs) and West Coast (Yeo).

There were six clubs where that didn't happen. Adelaide, where the CP leader, Laird, was second behind the much more accomplished Dawson. At Geelong, Holmes was third between key position players, Cameron and Stewart. I suspect that Petracca was leading the CPs at Melbourne before he got injured, but he still topped their votes. At Port, Butters was second for CPs, but topped their votes, while their best CP gatherer, Wines, finished fourth. St Kilda is the only club where the ruckman got more votes than the smaller mids, with Marshall topping the count, after being second in CPs. And finally, there was the strange case at the Bulldogs, where the umpires didn't seem to like Bontempelli this year, instead giving the most votes to Treloar and reversing their one two finish in CPs.

So from that, it seems to me that what mattered most to umpires this year, were hard ball gets in the middle. Which might be quite one dimensional. I mean, while I'd probably rather have Cripps fighting for the ball at the ruckman's feet and dishing out handballs, I'd much rather have Heeney, if the tasks were: flying for marks, taking marks on the lead, running into space, closing down space, laying run down tackles, hitting targets, kicking goals from outside 50, and snapping goals from tight angles.

[The Big Cat]

At this rate it won't be long before a midfielder from a team that finished 11th picks up 69 votes.

There's no way that Freddy Goldsmith could have won his Brownlow nowadays as a full back. It's all about possessions possessions possessions in the modern era! Look at Harry Cunnigham. Starves the most dangerous small forward every week and has never been recognised with a single vote. Just like Nick Smith who would close down Cyril but get no recognition, where as a midfielder may pick up a couple of dozen cheap possessions and get votes.