LET'S just call it for what it is – the Brownlow middle.
If you're not in the middle, this medal has not a lot of meaning for you. That's been the case for decades now.
But the realisation of a top cohort of players dominating the Brownlow Medal votes has never been starker than Monday night, and that's not just on gut feel.
BROWNLOW TRACKER Every vote for every player, as it happened
The length of the AFL season has increased, leading to the higher vote tallies seen in Patrick Cripps' 45-vote record and Nick Daicos' 38-vote effort (also smashing through the previous all-time high of 36 votes under the current 3-2-1 voting system).
But a small group amassing a large portion of the votes is a growing trend that reached a new level this year as the top five players combined to poll 14 per cent of the votes and the top 10 tallied 24 per cent of the votes.
Both of those, as Champion Data noted, are records for this century, going back to 2000.
The top 10, of course, were all midfielders: Cripps, Daicos, Zak Butters (29 votes), Caleb Serong (28), Isaac Heeney (28), Tom Green (27), Adam Treloar (26), Errol Gulden (25), Matt Rowell (25) and Jai Newcombe (24).
The next eight after that were also midfielders, before superstar Cats forward Jeremy Cameron and St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall came in with 16 votes.
This isn't necessarily unusual as very few of the key-position players of the past have been genuine Brownlow contenders. Lance Franklin polled 22 votes in 2017 to place fifth and the same in 2014 to place third, while Chad Cornes had 22 votes in 2004 as a key defender. Matthew Richardson's move up the ground in 2008 saw him finish with 22 votes in third spot.
But the voting en masse for the top echelon of midfielders – 10 players in the competition cornering almost a quarter of the votes – has continued a trend that has been obvious in recent years.
Last year, 21 per cent of the votes were taken by the top 10. The year before, in 2022, it was 20 per cent. Back in 2021, when Port Adelaide midfielder Ollie Wines set a new benchmark with 36 votes, it was a new level with 23 per cent.
Between 2020-24, the top five players in the Brownlow each year have received an average of 12 per cent of the votes and the top 10 have won 22 per cent of the votes. That's up from the previous decade when, between 2010-19, 11 per cent of votes were shared by the top five and 20 by the top 10.
Between 2000-09, it was back to 10 per cent for the top five and 18 per cent for the top 10. While the number differentials appear small, it is a significant difference when it comes to the dominant umpire eye-catchers.
But it isn't just the umpires. The top 18 players in the AFL Coaches' Association's MVP Award were all midfielders this year as well. Just as well to be in the middle. There'd be no medal at stake otherwise.
% of total Brownlow votes by top pollers, 2000-24
|
|
Top 5 |
Top 10 |
|
2024 |
14% |
24% |
|
2023 |
11% |
21% |
|
2022 |
11% |
20% |
|
2021 |
13% |
23% |
|
2020 |
12% |
20% |
|
2019 |
12% |
21% |
|
2018 |
10% |
17% |
|
2017 |
12% |
20% |
|
2016 |
11% |
20% |
|
2015 |
11% |
20% |
|
2014 |
10% |
18% |
|
2013 |
11% |
19% |
|
2012 |
11% |
20% |
|
2011 |
13% |
22% |
|
2010 |
12% |
20% |
|
2009 |
10% |
18% |
|
2008 |
11% |
19% |
|
2007 |
11% |
20% |
|
2006 |
11% |
17% |
|
2005 |
9% |
16% |
|
2004 |
11% |
19% |
|
2003 |
10% |
19% |
|
2002 |
9% |
17% |
|
2001 |
10% |
17% |
|
2000 |
10% |
17% |
% of total Brownlow votes by top pollers, by decade
|
|
Top 5 |
Top 10 |
|
2020-2024 |
12% |
22% |
|
2010-2019 |
11% |
20% |
|
2000-2009 |
10% |
18% |