Historic Brownlow Record Broken
Collingwood Superstar Nick Daicos Secures First Brownlow Medal With Record Votes
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Key Points
1
At 23, Daicos won the Brownlow in his fifth AFL season, having been the betting favourite in each of his previous four campaigns.
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Daicos became the first player to poll at least 30 votes in three different seasons, following totals of 38 in 2024 and 32 in 2025, when he finished runner-up.
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He also set a new voting milestone by polling three votes in six consecutive games.
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Daicos’s reported 47-vote total surpassed the previous Brownlow record of 45, set by Carlton’s Patrick Cripps in 2024.
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Isaac Heeney was one of five Sydney players banned by the Swans after a late-season incident at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne, leading to his exclusion from the Brownlow ceremony.
Nick Daicos won his first Brownlow Medal on September 21, 2026, ending four consecutive seasons as the betting favourite without the award. The 23-year-old Collingwood midfielder polled a record 47 votes, shattering Patrick Cripps's previous single-season mark of 45 set in 2024, according to Bandt. Daicos clinched the medal mathematically in Round 21 with an unassailable 10-vote lead.
Daicos defeated a strong field including Bailey Smith (36 votes), Marcus Bontempelli (34 votes), Max Gawn (28 votes), and Will Ashcroft (27 votes), ABC News reported. The win capped a dominant year — he also won the AFLPA MVP and AFLCA Champion Player of the Year. The Courier noted that Sydney's Isaac Heeney, who finished equal-fifth with 26 votes, was barred from the Brownlow ceremony after being suspended by his club for breaching behavioural standards following an incident at the Pullman Hotel in August.
Four Years of Near-Misses Finally Broken
Daicos entered 2026 having finished third in 2023 with 28 votes, then runner-up in both 2024 and 2025 with 38 and 32 votes respectively. He had been the betting favourite before each season's vote count, a source of frustration Head to Topics described as unique among modern AFL stars. ABC News highlighted that Daicos became the first player ever to poll 30 or more votes in three separate seasons.
The breakthrough came with stunning consistency. Daicos polled three votes in six consecutive games from Rounds 15 to 20, setting an all-time V/AFL record, Head to Topics reported. He finished with 13 three-vote games overall and polled votes in 18 of 23 matches, averaging 34.9 disposals and 5.7 clearances per game.
Record-Breaking Vote Total Reignites Inflation Debate
Daicos's 47-vote haul came after the AFL introduced a procedural change: umpires were given access to 17 match statistics after games to guide their three-two-one vote decisions. Combined with Cripps's 45-vote record in 2024, the twin peaks have sparked debate about whether vote inflation favours elite disposers. Critics noted that Bailey Smith (36 votes) and Marcus Bontempelli (34 votes) posted seasons that would have won the Brownlow in nearly every year before 2024.
Head to Topics observed that Daicos polled more votes in the previous four years than any other player has tallied in a five-year span. Media commentators described him as a "football robot" engineered within Collingwood's system to accumulate umpire votes. However, his sweep of player-voted and coach-voted awards — the AFLPA MVP and AFLCA Champion Player of the Year — suggested the dominance extended beyond statistical bias alone.
Sydney Swans Roiled by Pullman Hotel Suspension
The Brownlow ceremony was overshadowed by Sydney's mid-August crisis. After an alleged incident at East Melbourne's Pullman Hotel on August 17, the Swans stood down five players — Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon, and Riley Bice — for breaching team behavioural standards. The Courier noted the AFL banned all five from attending the ceremony, though they remained eligible for umpire votes.
Victoria Police opened an assault investigation into the incident, but no charges have been laid as of the Brownlow count. ABC News reported that AFL CEO Andrew Dillon deferred on any internal AFL sanctions pending the police inquiry. Heeney, despite his 26-vote tally, missed the year's most glamorous event. The five players face upcoming club exit meetings and potential trade negotiations.
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