would\u2019ve been enough to win every medal before 2024<\/a>, and Marcus Bontempelli\u2019s 34 would\u2019ve won most of those as well.<\/p>\nBut Daicos is simply a football robot, constructed to earn best-on-grounds, enabled by a Collingwood system that revolves around him with good reason.<\/p>\n
These are the Talking Points from the 2026 Brownlow Medal!<\/p>\n
See the Talking Points from the 2026 Brownlow Medal count.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
THE RECORDS NICK SMASHED ON WILD NIGHT<\/p>\n
He couldn\u2019t quite reach the magical 50-vote mark, but Nick Daicos broke almost every possible record on route to his 2026 Brownlow triumph.<\/p>\n
He started the season brilliantly with three consecutive three-vote games, and claimed another 10 from there – including a staggering eight best-on-grounds between Rounds 15 and 23.<\/p>\n
His six consecutive three-vote games between Rounds 15 and 20 are the most consecutively recorded in V\/AFL history, surpassing five players who were best-on-ground five times in a row; most recently Matt Rowell across late 2024 and early 2025.<\/p>\n
That brought him to a record total of 47 votes, surpassing Patrick Cripps\u2019 45 from the 2024 season – the year Daicos polled 38 (which would\u2019ve been the record without Cripps) and finished second.<\/p>\n
It was the equal-biggest winning margin in Brownlow history.<\/p>\n
Daicos\u2019 total of 13 best-on-grounds surpassed Cripps\u2019 2024 record tally of 12.<\/p>\n
For his career, Daicos now has 38 three-vote games, the sixth-most in Brownlow history. That\u2019s despite playing just 110 home and away matches.<\/p>\n
Every other player in the top 10 for the most three-vote games has played more than twice as many matches as Daicos.<\/p>\n
The second half of Daicos\u2019 2026 season was, according to the Brownlow votes at least, the greatest patch of form in footy history.<\/p>\n
He polled a staggering 31 votes from Round 11 onwards – meaning he could\u2019ve been overseas until mid-May and still would\u2019ve made the podium on Brownlow night.<\/p>\n
‘Why are we in a rush to suspend!’ | 02:58<\/p>\n
BONT\u2019S UNWANTED HISTORY<\/p>\n
Nick Daicos\u2019 maiden Brownlow Medal triumph will only go further to shine an unwanted light on Marcus Bontempelli. <\/p>\n
The Western Bulldogs superstar has long been considered the best, most well-rounded player in the competition, yet still hasn\u2019t been recognised with a Charlie. <\/p>\n
It will continue to feel like one of the great footy injustices as far as individual accolades go. <\/p>\n
And on Monday night, he officially claimed the title of most votes in Brownlow history without winning the medal. <\/p>\n
He has polled 247 career votes, surpassing Scott Pendlebury (230) and Joel Selwood (214). <\/p>\n
The Dogs\u2019 captain polled 33 votes in 2021 to finish three behind Ollie Wines, 29 in 2023 to finish two behind Lachie Neale, 25 last year, and a career-best 34 on Monday night – only to finish 13 votes behind Daicos. <\/p>\n
By the end of next year Bontempelli could have the all-time Brownlow vote record – he\u2019s 15 behind equal-record holders Gary Ablett Jr and Patrick Dangerfield – and yet not have a Brownlow.<\/p>\n
Though with Zak Butters on his way to the Kennel this offseason, that\u2019s another star – along with Ed Richards – set to take votes off him going forward.<\/p>\n
‘NO SYMPATHY!’ Gaz unloads on Neale | 02:09<\/p>\n
ROGUE VOTES<\/p>\n
Monday night\u2019s count was rightly all about Nick Daicos. <\/p>\n
But the superstar\u2019s three-vote game in Collingwood\u2019s Round 1 loss to Adelaide drew the ire of fans across social media. <\/p>\n
Despite the 14-point margin, the Magpies never really threatened in the second half at the MCG, but Daicos still recorded 33 disposals and two goals. <\/p>\n
It was a performance worthy of recognition, but three? Maybe, maybe not. <\/p>\n
Umpires couldn\u2019t find a single vote for Crows halfback Wayne Milera, who had 34 disposals and 673 metres gained. <\/p>\n
But it was far from the only game to raise the eyebrows of those watching from home. <\/p>\n
North Melbourne\u2019s Harry Sheezel deservedly polled well at Crown Palladium, and would have benefited from the umpires\u2019 access to stats. <\/p>\n
But his three votes against the Eagles in the Roos\u2019 Round 2 loss wasn\u2019t received overly well by those in blue and gold. <\/p>\n
Sheezel tallied 39 disposals and eight clearances in the 17-point loss, but didn\u2019t poll any votes from the coaches. <\/p>\n
The Kangaroos standout also earned recognition in the Round 7 loss to the Giants, receiving two votes for his 32 disposals and a goal. <\/p>\n
Initially tipped to be in a close race with Luke Davies-Uniacke for most North Melbourne votes, Sheezel comfortably took that mantle. <\/p>\n
Sheezel racked up the most Brownlow votes from a Roos player since Ross Glendinning won in 1983.<\/p>\n
Gaz calls out Barrass & Sicily behaviour | 01:35<\/p>\n
COUNT THAT BROUGHT SMILE TO DOGS\u2019 FACES\u2026 AND FEAR FOR THE COMP<\/p>\n
They were the Andrew Dillon words that would have had Bulldogs fans smiling from ear to ear on Monday night. <\/p>\n
In the Dogs\u2019 two-point Round 9 win over Port Adelaide, the polling read: One vote; Ed Richards, two votes; Zak Butters; three votes; Marcus Bontempelli. <\/p>\n
And Butters couldn\u2019t help but crack a smile when cameras panned to him, sitting on the Port Adelaide table. <\/p>\n
Because he, and every other Dogs fan, knows that\u2019ll be the club\u2019s starting midfield combination next season, after Butters officially nominated his childhood club as his free agency destination. <\/p>\n
And it\u2019s yet another scary reminder to the rest of the competition that this engine room will be the cream of the competition next year. <\/p>\n
Bontempelli\u2019s craft and versatility, Richards\u2019 top-line speed, and Butters\u2019 contested nature and explosion from stoppage. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be incredibly hard to stop, as the umpires noted on that night at Adelaide Oval early in the season. <\/p>\n
Lions survive thriller to stay alive | 04:43<\/p>\n
NO HARD FEELINGS BETWEEN NICK AND ZAK?<\/p>\n
Given how things went over the ensuing week, it was a bit of a surprise to see Zak Butters poll in the Gather Round loss to St Kilda.<\/p>\n
That was the game where the Tribunal found he had sledged umpire Nick Foot – later overturned on appeal due to a juror-in-the-car technicality.<\/p>\n
Foot and his fellow umpires came together after the game to decide who deserved the votes, and it\u2019s good to see Foot didn\u2019t let any potential personal feelings get in the way of his judgement.<\/p>\n
Butters had been expected to poll one vote by most Brownlow trackers and did just that.<\/p>\n
Freo comeback sinks Swans in epic prelim | 03:21<\/p>\n
FREO\u2019S SNEAKY GRAND FINAL RECRUIT?<\/p>\n
Always nice when you can add another midfielder just before the Grand Final.<\/p>\n
Fremantle fans, and Carlton fans too, would\u2019ve been surprised when Andrew Dillon announced in Round 7 that \u201cFremantle, S.Walsh\u201d had polled one vote.<\/p>\n
Sam Walsh happens to be contracted until the end of 2034, making it a particularly unlikely move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He really was inevitable. Going into the Brownlow Medal as favourite for the fourth time, Nick Daicos finally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-900215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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