The article discusses the anticipated announcement of Nick Daicos winning the Brownlow Medal on Monday night, focusing on how many votes he will accumulate and at what stage of the count his victory will be confirmed. With previous finishes of second place in 2024 and 2025, Daicos is expected to secure a first-place finish this year with predictions ranging from 38 to 52 votes, likely placing him above last year's winner Patrick Cripps who had 45 votes. The article also examines the impact of recent changes in umpiring rules that allow access to player statistics during vote casting and considers how these alterations might affect the voting patterns this year.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-17,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
In early October 2023, Nick Daicos is expected to win the Brownlow Medal at AFL's prestigious award ceremony. A Collingwood player since 2021, Daicos has been a consistent contender for the medal, polling 28, 38, and 32 votes in previous seasons. In 2023, despite being heavily favored, he finished just three votes behind winner Lachie Neale due to an injury that affected his performance towards season's end. This year, Daicos is a strong favorite again, with predictions suggesting he will reach the podium in either mid-October or later, depending on how many more rounds' worth of votes are counted before reaching an unbeatable lead. The anticipation builds as fans and analysts speculate whether Daicos will achieve a winning tally in the 40s, solidifying his status as one of the league's premier players.
Written for “Brownlow Medal Controversy” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Those are the words you will almost certainly hear on Monday night.
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you → hear → night
Perhaps the biggest question now is – at what stage of the count will the Collingwood star be confirmed as a first-time medallist?
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star → confirm → medallist
Will Daicos reach the unbeatable stage at round 20, still with a month of votes to be counted?
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Daicos → reach → votes
Or will the 23-year-old dynamo, the hottest of hot favourites, have to endure a nervous flutter or two in the final few rounds?
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dynamo → have → rounds
After polling 28, 38 and 32 votes in the past three seasons, he was the obvious pick.
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he → poll → seasons
Those tallies have given him two second-placed finishes (behind Matt Rowell and Patrick Cripps in 2025 and 2024 respectively).
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tallies → give → 2025
In 2023 he was probably the most unlucky, finishing only three votes adrift of winner Lachie Neale as he took the competition by storm for the first time but injury impacted his finish to the home-and-away season.
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injury → finish → season
The other great question surrounding Daicos is exactly how many votes he will accrue.
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he → surround → votes
Cripps’ ridiculous and record-breaking season two years ago (45 votes – eight ahead of Daicos) could easily be toppled.
uncertain
season → break → Daicos
Getting to the 50-vote mark is not outside the realm of possibility.
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Getting → get → possibility
Amid the Brownlow prognostications and permutations, Daicos is variously tipped to finish with anywhere between 38 and 52 votes.
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Daicos → tip → votes
A readjustment of votes from The Age footballer of the year award (where five players are given a score out of 10 each game), has Daicos reaching 43 votes.
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Daicos → give → votes
The AFL website’s Brownlow predictor lands on Daicos with 47 votes, with the next player a whopping 13 behind.
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predictor → land → votes
You get the drift – it’s simply Daicos’ to lose.
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it → get → drift
Who should you lean towards?
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you → lean → Who
At age 30 and surely with seasons of footy still to come, “the Bont” is tracking to become the greatest Brownlow vote-winner in history.
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Bont → come → history
The Bulldog is likely to reach third spot on the table (behind Gary Ablett jnr and Patrick Dangerfield) this year.
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Bulldog → reach → Ablett
Nothing is guaranteed in footy, and perennial contender Bontempelli might never win Charlie.
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Bontempelli → guarantee → Charlie
A significant change to the Brownlow happened this year as the AFL allowed umpires to access statistics upon request.
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umpires → happen → request
The league is trying to avoid perceived voting blunders by tinkering with the system.
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league → try → system
In deciding on the 3-2-1 votes for each match, the umpires can now ask for stats in 16 categories to help their judgment.
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umpires → decide → judgment
Eagle-eyed Brownlow followers will try to assess how this affects voting patterns.
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this → try → patterns
The change might mean there’s less chance of a “bolt-from-the-blue” winner, such as West Coast’s Matt Priddis in 2014 or even Rowell last year.
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change → mean → 2014
“With the new voting model, which allows umpires to review the post-game statistics, we forecast that the Brownlow will now heavily skew towards favourites in the future.
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Brownlow → allow → future
This may make winners like Matt Rowell, who was $17 last year, more unlikely,” says TAB’s senior AFL trader Bart Kennett.
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trader → make → Rowell
Time will tell what it means for the Brownlow long-term.
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it → tell → term
But, don’t worry, you’ll still hear “N. Daicos, three votes” many times on Monday night.
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you → worry → night
The Aporia
