On the eve of the 2024 Toyota AFL Premiership Season, the 18 club captains have had their say on how the season will play out its biggest moments. The results are in with captains voting Collingwood at the top end of the ladder, followed by the Brisbane Lions as the teams to beat with strong support across the GWS GIANTS and Carlton who will also be in finals contention.
In total, the Brisbane Lions secured the votes of nine of the 18 club captains as the team most likely to be a part of Grand Final day this year. This was followed by Collingwood (six votes) and GWS GIANTS (three votes).
A total of 15 different clubs were considered possible chances to contest the finals while three different clubs were considered to reach the Grand Final.
Unanimously, the view of the game's on-field leaders is that there will be eight players across the competition as this year’s Brownlow Medal favourite with Marcus Bontempelli (10 votes) as the standout ahead of Nick Daicos (two votes).
The Coleman Medal as leading goalkicker was predicted to be the domain of Charlie Curnow (seven votes).
Harley Reid was the standout to claim the Ron Evans Medal as the AFL Rising Star with six of the 18 captains nominating the West Coast Eagles youngster to take out the award.
The McClelland Trophy was predicted to go to a new home at the Brisbane Lions (eight votes) as the top club overall across both the AFL and AFLW Competition, followed by current McClelland Trophy winners Melbourne (four votes).
Finally, when polled on who the players who love to see perform at the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final, the Captains are dreaming of Coldplay (three votes) followed by Luke Combs and Tame Impala (two votes each).
The captains were asked seven key questions, with the proviso that their individual answers would be treated anonymously to ensure personal views:
- Which seven other clubs do you think can make this year's top eight?
- Which other club is most likely to reach the Grand Final?
- Who do you think will win the 2024 Brownlow Medal?
- Who do you think will win the 2024 Coleman Medal?
- Who do you think will win the 2024 AFL Rising Star?
- Which club will win the McClelland Trophy?
- Who would you love to see perform as the Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment this September?
The full voting is below:
Which seven other clubs do you think can make this year's top eight?
17 – Collingwood
16 – Brisbane
15 – Carlton, GWS GIANTS
14 – Melbourne, Sydney Swans
10 – Adelaide Crows
7 – Port Adelaide
6 – Western Bulldogs
4 – Gold Coast SUNS
3 – St Kilda
2 – Geelong Cats
1 – Essendon, Fremantle, Richmond
Which other club is most likely to reach the Grand Final?
(No captains picked eventual premier Collingwood in 2023).
9 – Brisbane Lions
6 – Collingwood
3 – GWS GIANTS
Which player from another club do you think will win the 2024 Brownlow Medal?
(Three captains correctly nominated Lachie Neale in 2023).
10 – Marcus Bontempelli, Western Bulldogs
2 – Nick Daicos, Collingwood
1 – Charlie Curnow, Carlton; Jordan Dawson, Adelaide Crows; Tom Green, GWS GIANTS; Errol Gulden, Sydney Swans; Darcy Parish, Essendon; Sam Walsh, Carlton;
Which player do you think will win the 2024 Coleman Medal?
(One captain nominated eventual Coleman Medallist Charlie Curnow in 2023).
7 – Charlie Curnow, Carlton
3 – Jeremy Cameron, Geelong Cats; Nick Larkey, North Melbourne
1 – Tom Hawkins, Geelong Cats; Max King, St Kilda; Tom Lynch, Richmond; Harry McKay, Carlton; Jacob Van Rooyen, Melbourne
Which player do you think will win the 2024 AFL Rising Star?
(One captain nominated eventual Ron Evans Medallist Harry Sheezel in 2023).
6 – Harley Reid, West Coast Eagles
5 – George Wardlaw, North Melbourne
3 – Ryley Sanders, Western Bulldogs
2 – Colby McKercher, North Melbourne
1 – Blake Howes, Melbourne; Jed Walter, Gold Coast SUNS
Which club will win the McClelland Trophy?
8 – Brisbane Lions
4 – Melbourne
1 – Adelaide Crows, Collingwood, Gold Coast SUNS, GWS GIANTS, Richmond, Western Bulldogs
Who would you love to see perform as the Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment this September?
3 – Coldplay
2 – Luke Combs, Tame Impala,
1 – AC/DC, Adele, Fred Again, Luca Brasi, Kylie Minogue, Mumford and Sons, Oasis, Rihanna, Robbie Williams, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift
