PATRICK Dangerfield won't feature at the pointy end of the Brownlow Medal on Monday night, but a small slice of history does await the Geelong veteran at this year's count.
Dangerfield, the 2016 winner, has picked up 54 three-vote games across his career, just one behind Gary Ablett jnr's all-time record of 55.
And if the AFL coaches' votes correlate with the umpires this year, which is never a guarantee, Dangerfield will have the record for himself.
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HISTORY Your club's Brownlow winners, most three-vote games
The 34-year-old was adjudged best on ground by the coaches three times this year, picking up a perfect 10 votes against St Kilda in round one and against Fremantle in round 22, while he also grabbed nine votes against Collingwood in round 18.
In AFL.com.au's Brownlow Predictor, the Cats skipper got three votes in the wins over the Saints and the Dockers, but didn't poll against the Magpies in a scrappy game where seven players picked up coaches' votes.
But if the umpires follow suit and award Dangerfield three votes against the Saints and the Dockers, the record will be his.
However, the thoughts of the coaches and the umpires have been known to vary wildly. Just last year, there were 19 instances of a player receiving 10 coaches' votes but no Brownlow votes in the same game, and 16 instances of it going the other way.
Even if Dangerfield does overtake Ablett, he might not hold the record for long.
Two-time winner Lachie Neale has had 46 three-vote games in his career so far and is projected by our Brownlow Predictor to pick up another seven this season.
Discounting his injury-hit 2021 campaign, Neale has picked up a staggering 29 three-vote games in four seasons since arriving at Brisbane; five in 2019, 10 in 2020, seven in 2022 and seven in 2023.
Most three-votes games, Brownlow Medal
55 - Gary Ablett jnr
54 - Patrick Dangerfield
46 - Lachie Neale
46 - Chris Judd
45 - Robert Harvey
45 - Sam Mitchell
42 - Marcus Bontempelli
42 - Dustin Martin
41 - Brent Harvey
41 - Nat Fyfe
