Nick Daicos has won the 2026 Brownlow Medal, finally winning the AFL\u2019s highest individual honour after finishing runner-up on two previous occasions.<\/p>\n
The Collingwood superstar was the overwhelming favourite and he won comfortably in the end with 47 votes, setting a new record for the most votes by a player in a single season.<\/p>\n
On a night where the AFL and broadcaster Channel 7 did its best to deal with an awkward elephant in the room – the ongoing Sydney Swans scandal – Daicos added the league\u2019s top honour to his 2023 premiership medal, two AFL MVP awards and four All-Australian honours. All at the age of 23.<\/p>\n
Geelong\u2019s Bailey Smith finished second on 36 votes and Marcus Bontempelli was third with 33 votes. <\/p>\n
Daicos also broke the record for the most three-vote games and and the most consecutive three-vote games in Brownlow history.<\/p>\n
The two grand finalists, Fremantle and the Lions, held functions in Perth and Brisbane as they prepare for this weekend\u2019s decider.<\/p>\n
Preliminary final loser Sydney was snubbed all night at Crown Palladium in an awkward subplot.<\/p>\n
Whenever any of the suspended Swans – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey or Riley Bice – received votes, there was silence in the room. James Jordon did not poll.<\/p>\n
The players were banned from attending the count and the table of their Sydney teammates who did were largely ignored during Seven\u2019s broadcast.<\/p>\n
Whenever a suspended player\u2019s name was read out – most often Heeney, who finished ninth with 26 votes – the TV cameras panned to a wide shot of the room.<\/p>\n
Recap all the action below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Daicos has won the 2026 Brownlow Medal, finally winning the AFL\u2019s highest individual honour after finishing runner-up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[469179,469207,469178,469206,377573,469183,469172,469175,469184,469174,469205,469202,385364,378351,379284,469182,376457,469203,469201,196244,425736,398157,469177,469173,20231,79184,469190,215610,424017,45687,469194,469204,10992,469170,469200,43,434424,469195,3487,447532,138110,14016,44,19122,61822,469171,7820,44377,469180,393276,281377,469186,379302,469199,146596,419161,469191,468379,215379,280721,7709,469188,469198,469193,377486,469197,469181,392138,383300,469208,469189,383393,469185,469187,379782,41,39,42,40,469192,469176,469196],"class_list":["post-900553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-s-bailey-smith","tag-s-broadcast-whenever","tag-s-decider-preliminary-final-loser-sydney","tag-s-highest-individual-honour","tag-s-name","tag-s-top-honour","tag-2026-brownlow-medal-count","tag-23-geelong","tag-26-votes","tag-33-votes","tag-36-votes","tag-47-votes","tag-a-new-record","tag-a-night","tag-a-player","tag-a-single-season-on","tag-a-slew","tag-a-suspended-player","tag-a-wide-shot","tag-afl-history","tag-all-night","tag-all-the-action","tag-an-awkward-elephant","tag-an-awkward-subplot-whenever","tag-an-elephant","tag-awkward-silence","tag-brownlow-history-brownlow-trackerthe","tag-chad-warner","tag-crown-palladium","tag-daicos","tag-footy-records","tag-four-all-australian-honours","tag-fremantle","tag-functions","tag-hard-to-believe","tag-headlines","tag-heeney","tag-his-2023-premiership-medal","tag-isaac-heeney","tag-its-best","tag-james-jordon","tag-marcus-bontempelli","tag-news","tag-nick-blakey","tag-nick-daicos","tag-perth-and-brisbane","tag-players","tag-records","tag-riley-bice-received-votes","tag-runner-up","tag-silence","tag-the-2026-brownlow-medal","tag-the-afl","tag-the-afl-and-broadcaster-channel-7","tag-the-age","tag-the-brownlow-medal","tag-the-collingwood-superstar","tag-the-count","tag-the-end","tag-the-league","tag-the-lions","tag-the-most-consecutive-three-vote-games","tag-the-most-three-vote-games","tag-the-most-votes","tag-the-night","tag-the-ongoing-sydney-swans-scandal","tag-the-overwhelming-favourite","tag-the-record","tag-the-room","tag-the-room-recap","tag-the-suspended-swans","tag-the-table","tag-the-tv-cameras","tag-their-sydney-teammates","tag-this-weekend","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-two-afl-mvp-awards","tag-two-grand-finalists","tag-two-previous-occasions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900553","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=900553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}