TheBrownlow Medal (formally theCharles Brownlow Trophy) is an individual award given to the player judgedfairest and best in theAustralian Football League (AFL) during the regular season. Determined by votes cast by the officiating umpires after each game, it is considered the highest honour for individual players in the AFL.[1][2]
The medal has been awarded every year since1924, with the exception of an intermission from 1942–1945 due toWorld War II. As of 2024, the Brownlow Medal has been awarded 111 times to 90 different players in 96 medal counts.
Voting systems:
Until1980, a countback system was used to determine the winner in the event of a tie. In 1930, Judkins was awarded the medal as he had played in the fewest games; and from1931 to 1980, the winner was the player with the most three-vote games.[2] In 1980, the countback system was removed, and in the event of a tie, players have been considered joint winners.[2] In1989, the countback was retroactively removed from all previous counts, and all players who had previously lost on countback were considered joint winners.[3]
Notes:
As a mark of respect to soldiers fighting overseas inWorld War II, the medal was not awarded during 1942–1945.
A player guilty of an offence deemed worthy of a suspension by the AFL's disciplinary tribunal for serious on-field offences is ineligible to win the Brownlow Medal. Suspended players have tallied the highest number of votes for the award on three occasions. In the third of those cases,Jobe Watson, who won in 2012, was later found guilty of breaching WADA's anti-doping code in the 2012 season, and was retrospectively ruled ineligible by the AFL Commission in November 2016.[5]
| Player | Team | Year | Votes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corey McKernan | North Melbourne | 1996 | 21 | Suspended; would have been joint winner withHird andVoss. |
| Chris Grant | Western Bulldogs | 1997 | 27 | Suspended; would have won outright, beatingHarvey by one vote. |
| Jobe Watson | Essendon | 2012 | 30 | Awarded the medal in 2012, beatingMitchell andCotchin by four votes. In 2016 he was retrospectively ruled ineligible because of his involvement in theEssendon supplements saga. |
The following players have won the Brownlow Medal multiple times.
| Medals | Player | Team | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Haydn Bunton Sr. | Fitzroy | 1931, 1932, 1935 |
| Dick Reynolds | Essendon | 1934, 1937, 1938 | |
| Bob Skilton | South Melbourne | 1959, 1963, 1968 | |
| Ian Stewart | St Kilda /Richmond | 1965, 1966, 1971 | |
| 2 | Ivor Warne-Smith | Melbourne | 1926, 1928 |
| Bill Hutchison | Essendon | 1952, 1953 | |
| Roy Wright | Richmond | 1952, 1954 | |
| Keith Greig | North Melbourne | 1973, 1974 | |
| Peter Moore | Collingwood /Melbourne | 1979, 1984 | |
| Greg Williams | Sydney /Carlton | 1986, 1994 | |
| Robert Harvey | St Kilda | 1997, 1998 | |
| Adam Goodes | Sydney | 2003, 2006 | |
| Chris Judd | West Coast /Carlton | 2004, 2010 | |
| Gary Ablett Jr. | Geelong /Gold Coast | 2009, 2013 | |
| Nat Fyfe | Fremantle | 2015, 2019 | |
| Lachie Neale | Brisbane Lions | 2020, 2023 | |
| Patrick Cripps | Carlton | 2022, 2024 |