THE REVAMPED Match Review Panel has seen a dramatic reduction in players ineligible to win the Brownlow after 10 rounds of the season.
Currently only 14 players are ineligible to win this year's top honour compared to 39 players at the same stage last season.
The dramatic decrease in the number of ineligible players is due to a revised MRP process that is fining rather than suspending or reprimanding players for minor or low-level offences.
So far in 2015, 14 players have received suspensions with the total weeks missed being 22, compared to 2014 when 31 players were suspended for a total of 35 matches in the first 10 rounds.
Another eight players were ruled ineligible last season after receiving reprimands where their offences incurred more than 100 demerit points.
By the end of 2014 there were 61 players ineligible to win the Brownlow with 25 per cent of the first 16 places ineligible, including runner-up Nat Fyfe, who was suspended twice last season.
The change in approach has led to an approximate drop of 50 per cent in the number of players suspended and a 40 per cent reduction in the number of matches missed due to suspension.
There has still been controversy surrounding MRP decisions but the discussion has generally been confined to big-ticket incidents such as Steven May's bump on Lions' skipper Tom Rockliff, that saw the Sun miss three weeks after he challenged the original two-week finding.
The penalties handed out to Hawthorn's Luke Hodge and Jordan Lewis, and Carlton's Chris Yarran were also the subject of much debate.
Under the revised MRP, carry-over points have been removed, the classification categories have been reduced and former players have been placed on the panel including recently retired stars Luke Ball and Brad Sewell as well as former Saint Nathan Burke and premiership winning Magpie Michael Christian.