The Brownlow Medal — The AFL’s Crown Jewel

The Brownlow Medal is the AFL’s crown jewel. A small bronze medallion the size of a 50-cent piece, hung on a green ribbon, voted by umpires (3-2-1 votes per game), counted on the Monday night of Grand Final week, and worth more in cultural prestige than any other piece of metalware in Australian sport. The Ballon d’Or? Cute. The Hart Trophy? Quaint. The Brownlow stops the country dead while a TV channel reads out votes from Round 1 in alphabetical order. If you’ve watched a Brownlow count, you understand the religion.

The History: Charles Brownlow and the 1924 Origin

The Brownlow Medal is named after Charles Brownlow, a Geelong administrator who served as the club’s secretary for 21 years and as VFL secretary thereafter. Brownlow was a foundational figure in the league’s early years; the medal was instituted in 1924, two years before his death, as the inaugural “fairest and best” award.

The voting system: umpires vote 3-2-1 (three, two, one votes) for the three best players from each home-and-away match. Votes are counted at the end of the regular season; the medal goes to the player with the most votes, provided they’re eligible (no suspensions during the season). The 3-2-1 system has been continuous since 1931 (earlier years used different voting rules).

The first Brownlow Medallist was Edward “Carji” Greeves of Geelong in 1924. He won 7 votes — a count that would barely register today (modern winners hit 30+ votes).

The Modern Era: Counts and Controversies

The Brownlow count is broadcast live in prime-time on the Monday night of Grand Final week. Players attend in tuxedos and gowns; partners’ fashion is dissected by media; entire newspapers run dedicated supplements the morning after. The TV ratings are second only to the Grand Final itself.

Recent winners include:

• 2025: TBD (results being finalised at time of writing)
• 2024: Patrick Cripps (Carlton), 45 votes
• 2023: Lachie Neale (Brisbane), 31 votes
• 2022: Patrick Cripps (Carlton), 29 votes
• 2021: Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide), 36 votes
• 2020: Lachie Neale (Brisbane), 31 votes
• 2019: Nat Fyfe (Fremantle), 33 votes
• 2018: Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn), 28 votes
• 2017: Dustin Martin (Richmond), 36 votes
• 2016: Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong), 35 votes
• 2015: Nat Fyfe (Fremantle), 31 votes
• 2014: Matt Priddis (West Coast), 26 votes
• 2013: Gary Ablett Jr (Gold Coast), 28 votes
• 2012: Sam Mitchell + Trent Cotchin (joint, retroactive after Jobe Watson’s medal stripped due to ASADA)

Multiple Brownlow Winners

The all-time multiple-Brownlow club is exclusive:

• 3 Brownlows: Haydn Bunton Sr (1931, 1932, 1935), Dick Reynolds (1934, 1937, 1938), Bob Skilton (1959, 1963, 1968), Ian Stewart (1965, 1966, 1971), Gary Ablett Jr (2009, 2013), Nat Fyfe (2015, 2019)
• 2 Brownlows: Patrick Cripps (2022, 2024), Lachie Neale (2020, 2023), Patrick Dangerfield (2016 + previous), Chris Judd (2004, 2010), and others

Note: Gary Ablett Jr’s father, Gary Ablett Sr, never won a Brownlow despite being widely regarded as one of the greatest forwards in VFL/AFL history. Key forwards almost never win the award — the umpire-vote bias toward inside midfielders is real and documented.

The Famous Robberies

Wayne Carey never won a Brownlow. Eight times All-Australian, two-time premiership captain, one of the greatest centre-half-forwards in VFL/AFL history, but never the umpires’ “fairest and best.” The Brownlow’s umpire-vote bias is most clearly demonstrated in Carey’s case.

Jonathan Brown never won a Brownlow. Three-time premiership Lion, six-time All-Australian, but never the medal.

The 2012 controversy: Jobe Watson originally won the 2012 Brownlow but had it stripped in 2016 following ASADA’s anti-doping ruling on Essendon. The medal was retrospectively awarded jointly to Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) and Trent Cotchin (Richmond).

The 2016 coin toss: Patrick Dangerfield and Henry Hill were tied through a partial count; Dangerfield won the count by a single vote in the final round.

Trivia for the Pub

• The Brownlow was first awarded in 1924.
• The first winner was Edward “Carji” Greeves of Geelong.
• The 3-2-1 voting system has been used since 1931.
• The umpire votes are kept secret until the count.
• The medal itself is bronze with a green ribbon.
• The count is held on the Monday night before the Grand Final.
• Suspended players are ineligible, regardless of vote count.
• The Brownlow cannot be shared in modern times — countbacks decide ties.
• Charles Brownlow (the namesake) was Geelong’s club secretary for 21 years.
• The current voting card system was modernised in the 1990s.

The Rumours

The persistent rumour: player-only Brownlow voting. Players have lobbied for a parallel award voted by their peers (the Leigh Matthews Trophy serves this role informally). The umpires guard their privilege; the AFL has not signalled change.

The other rumour: splitting the Brownlow into positional categories. Has been mooted to reduce the inside-mid bias. Won’t happen — the prestige of a single medal is sacrosanct.

The wildcard: retroactive Brownlow awards for past stripped or missed counts. Has been discussed for various historical cases. The AFL has been reluctant to revise older awards.

The Verdict

The Brownlow Medal is the AFL’s most prestigious individual award. The umpire-vote bias is real; the inside-mid favouring is documented; the historical robberies of Wayne Carey, Jonathan Brown, and others are genuine grievances. But none of that diminishes the medal’s cultural power. Win a Brownlow, and you’re permanently in the AFL’s pantheon. The TV broadcasts the count for three hours; the country watches; and somewhere a kid in a primary school footy guernsey decides this is what they want to be when they grow up. Long live Charlie Brownlow.