2013: Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
The 'son of God' won his second Brownlow Medal (his first came in 2009 while at the Cats) as a Sun. He was also the northern club's inaugural winner. Ablett beat former Geelong teammate Joel Selwood by one vote, polling three votes in the final game of the season to take home 'Charlie' for a second time. Form tells us a similar battle could be on the cards in 2014.
2008: Adam Cooney (Western Bulldogs)
The No.1 selection in the 2003 NAB AFL Draft elevated his game to a new level in 2008, becoming the Western Bulldogs' chief playmaker. Cooney, renowned as a speedy midfielder in his prime, polled 24 votes to pip umpires' favourite Simon Black (23) and deliver some more sunshine for the Bulldogs as they made the preliminary final that year before falling to Geelong.
2005: Ben Cousins (West Coast)
The Eagles' running machine followed teammate Chris Judd, winning the 2005 medal after Judd's success the year before. Cousins won the medal after polling 20 votes in 22 games, edging out teammate Daniel Kerr (19 votes) and St Kilda's Nick Dal Santo (18) in a year in which West Coast proved a dominant force, right up until a gripping loss to the Swans in the Grand Final. The tale of Cousins' career post-Brownlow would, of course, fill the newspapers to the brim.
2004: Chris Judd (West Coast)
Chris Judd was just 21 when he won his first Brownlow Medal with the Eagles – the club's first player to win the prestigious award. He was the up and coming star of the competition and won the 2004 medal in a canter. Judd polled 30 votes to eclipse Mark Ricciuto (23 votes) and Chad Cornes (22). A strong contender in the category of 'best first 100-games ever', Judd showed he had plenty left in the tank when he nabbed another Brownlow, this time as a Carlton player, in 2010.
2003: Adam Goodes (Sydney Swans), Nathan Buckley (Collingwood) and Mark Ricciuto (Adelaide)
The Brownlow's first three-way tie certainly paid deference to true champions of the game. Goodes would double-up with another Brownlow in 2006 and Buckley already had a Norm Smith Medal to his name. Ricciuto was at his self-effacing best during the acceptance speech but the count was one of the tightest ever with another champion trio - Ben Cousins, Shane Crawford and Gavin Wanganeen (all previous Brownlow winners) - just a vote behind. It's worth wondering if the AFL had a least six medals on hand that night.
2002: Simon Black (Brisbane Lions)
Lions midfielder Black won two coveted medals inside a week. He claimed the Brownlow Medal with 25 votes and had his second premiership medallion just days later. Black was a comfortable winner of the 2002 count, beating Port's Josh Francou by four votes. The smooth midfielder with the laser-like handball was a perennial vote-getter and the umpires placed him runner-up in two further Brownlow counts - 2007 and 2008.
2001: Jason Akermanis (Brisbane Lions)
A polarising figure to many, 'Aker' simply walked the walk, usually after extensively talking the talk. One of the greatest finishers in the game and largely unstoppable when the mood took him, Akermanis snuck past Andrew McLeod to grab the medal and celebrate with wife Megan and teammates Nigel Lappin and another Brownlow winner in Michael Voss. With a Grand Final to play against the Bombers a few days later, the Lions opted to remain in Brisbane for the count, and partied long into the night after Akermanis' triumph.
2000: Shane Woewodin (Melbourne)
By his own admission, Woewodin was a surprise winner of the 2000 Brownlow. The Demon went into the final round of the season tied with Bulldog Scott West, but won in his own right by polling in the last game to finish on 24 votes, two ahead of West. Melbourne teammate David Neitz is poised here to join in the celebrations. Essendon, with just a solitary loss that year, spread the votes round too thinly with James Hird eight behind Woewodin on 16. The Dons would get their revenge just five days later, thumping Woewodin and the Demons to win the 2000 flag.
1999: Shane Crawford (Hawthorn)
Crawford gave one of the most moving acceptance speeches when he was handed his medal at the count staged in Sydney. The Hawthorn midfielder paid tribute to his mum Dianne, who raised three sons as a single parent. Crawford was the red-hot favourite to salute that evening and he did not disappoint, polling 28 votes in 22 games, topping Essendon's Mark Mercuri who finished with 22 votes. It would be another nine years before Crawford would finally get his hands on a premiership medal - his final game was the triumphant 2008 Grand Final.
1997: Robert Harvey (St Kilda)
Harvey won his first Brownlow Medal at 27 years of age in 1997 and doubled up the year later with an even higher vote tally. On this fabled night, Western Bulldogs forward Chris Grant polled the highest number of votes (27), but was ineligible to win because of suspension. Harvey was declared the winner with 26 votes as a disconsolate Grant watched on from home, the Bulldog showing admirable class and restraint when he was interviewed in a live cross shortly after seeing the medal slip from his grasp.
1996: James Hird (Essendon) and Michael Voss (Brisbane Bears)
A new generation was ushered in with the Brownlow being shared by two young superstars who are now Hall of Famers. In one of the tightest counts ever, just four votes separated eleven players at the end and the ultimate hard luck story was North's Corey McKernan who polled the same number of votes as Hird and Voss, but was ineligible due to suspension.
1995: Paul Kelly (Sydney Swans)
The tough and uncompromising Swan won the 1995 count with 21 votes from 22 matches. The inspirational leader polled in 11 games, taking out the medal from ineligible pair Darren Jarman (18 votes) and Garry Hocking (17). Kelly was always a fan favourite in the Harbour City due to his ferocious attack on the ball and he would come close to a second Brownlow in 1997 when he finished second to Robert Harvey.
1992: Scott Wynd (Footscray/Western Bulldogs)
Wynd followed in the footsteps of Bulldogs teammate Tony Liberatore who won the award in 1990. The Footscray ruckman polled 20 votes to claim the last of the 'dinosaur medals' - in the days when lumbering talls were a chance to triumph in such individual awards. Pictured here with Liberatore and coach Terry Wheeler, Wynd dominated hit-out counts all year and here he got his reward over Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall (18 votes) and Geelong's Ken Hinkley (17).
1991: Jim Stynes (Melbourne)
It was in 1984 that the Irish-born Stynes answered an advertisement from the Demons in a local paper that sought Gaelic footballers taller than 183cm as possible recruits. He moved to Australia in November than year, became a ruckman and claimed the 1991 Brownlow medal after being heavily favoured, and after recovering from that fabled spray from John Northey when a Stynes transgression cost the Demons a spot in the 1987 Grand Final. The consecutive games record holder died of cancer in 2012 and a statue of him was recently unveiled outside the MCG.
1990: Tony Liberatore (Footscray/Western Bulldogs)
At 163cm, the tenacious midfielder was one of the shortest players to play the game at the highest level, as well as win the Brownlow Medal. Started at North Melbourne but failed to get a senior game, which prompted his move to Footscray, where he played 283 career games and led the league during most of that time in the tackle count.
1988: Gerard Healy (Sydney Swans)
Played 130 games with Melbourne from 1979-85 before another 81 with the Sydney Swans until 1990, where he switched from the forward pocket to the midfield. A wrist injury forced him into retirement at 29 but not before he won the 1988 Brownlow and three All Australian guernseys. Healy is pictured here at the count with brother Greg who also played for the Demons.
1987: Tony Lockett (St Kilda) and John Platten (Hawthorn)
Lockett's season saw him boot 117 goals – one of the six times he scaled 100 – and was in his fifth year with St Kilda before the full forward transferred to the Sydney Swans in 1995. Platten, a gutsy South Australian rover with distinctive hair, played in four premierships at Hawthorn.
1986: Robert DiPierdomenico (Hawthorn) and Greg Williams (Sydney Swans)
Two of the game's most memorable midfield characters shared this year's prize with 17 votes after DiPierdomenico managed to avoid the tribunal and Williams, in his first season at the Swans after leaving Geelong, shone again in the centre and won the first of two Brownlow medals. Williams' second Brownlow would be his alone to savour as a Blue in 1994.
1984: Peter Moore (Melbourne)
This was the second Brownlow claimed by Moore after he also won it while playing for Collingwood in 1979. After captaining the Pies in 1981-82, he transferred to Melbourne in 1983. The agile ruckman played 22 games in 1984 after the change of clubs reinvigorated his career and he won with 24 votes from former teammate David Cloke (21).
1983: Ross Glendenning (North Melbourne)
It was 24 votes that saw the West Australian win this year's medal. A solid athlete, who could play at both ends of the ground, Glendenning had a brilliant year in 1983 and played every game for North Melbourne, which saw him claim the honour ahead of Tiger Maurice Rioli after coming second the previous season. Glendenning would return to his native Perth in 1987 to be West Coast's inaugural captain.
1982: Brian Wilson (Melbourne)
Wilson won the Brownlow at his third club – Melbourne – after stints at North Melbourne and Footscray. He went on to play seven games for St Kilda in 1991. In his first year at the Demons, he beat Ross Glendenning with 23 votes to win the Brownlow after averaging 28 touches a game.
1981: Bernie Quinlan (Fitzroy) and Barry Round (South Melbourne)
A rare victory for the key-position giants with Fitzroy's champion full-forward and the Swans' star ruckman delivering the first tied Brownlow in more than 20 years when they were locked together on 22 votes, one ahead of Carlton rover Rod Ashman. Quinlan played 177 games for Footscray before a move to the Lions where he really found his kicking boots with 576 goals. Coincidentally, Round debuted with Quinlan at Footscray in 1969 before moving to South Melbourne and then up to Sydney where he was the relocated club's inaugural captain.
1978: Malcolm Blight (North Melbourne)
The champion South Australian has pretty much done it all as a player and coach. This was an early chapter of success, Blight winning a close count by one vote from Hawthorn's Peter Knights. Fresh from premierships in 1975 and 1977 with the Roos, Blight also led the club's goal-kicking for four of the next five seasons and took out the Coleman Medal in 1982. 
1977: Graham Teasdale (South Melbourne)
In his third season with the Swans after moving from Richmond, the forward-turned-ruckman was a runaway winner with a record 59 votes, from Kevin Bartlett and Billy Picken. It was the second, and final time, both field umpires gave their 3-2-1 votes independently, effectively doubling Teasdale's tally. From the following year umpires would confer to give a single set of votes.
1974: Keith Greig (North Melbourne)
The North Melbourne superstar became just the fifth player in VFL history to win back-to-back Brownlows when he held on from Demon Gary Hardeman and Tiger Kevin Bartlett. For the second year in succession, the high-marking winger tallied 27 votes to get over the line.
1965: Ian Stewart (St Kilda)
In just his third season in the VFL, Stewart won the first of his historic three Brownlows on a countback from North Melbourne's Noel Teasdale (who was retrospectively awarded a medal 24 years later). Stewart also won in 1966 and 1971 – the same year he switched clubs to Richmond.
1964: Gordon Collis (Carlton)
The Blues' centre half-back played less than 100 games in his career, but assured his place in history with a runaway win, streeting the field by eight votes. Carlton struggled to 10th place this year, but Collis credited his remarkable form to his optician, who switched him to contact lenses after he struggled to see the ball during the 1963 season.
1953: Bill Hutchison (Essendon)
The outstanding Dons rover made it back-to-back wins with a four-vote triumph. Spending his entire 290-game career with Essendon, Hutchinson won six best and fairest, four premierships and was voted the fourth-greatest Bomber of all-time in 2002.
1938: Dick Reynolds (Essendon)
One of four triple-Brownlow medallists, Reynolds is revered like few others in football history. His roving skill, leadership and class in using the ball was and he backed that up with an impressive 21 year coaching career with his beloved Bombers. Season 1938 was the last of his Brownlow wins, Reynolds taking out the medal that year by a vote from Hawthorn's Stan Spinks.
