Brownlow Medal Winners
What is the Brownlow Medal?
The Brownlow Medal is regarded as the highest individual honour that can be given to an AFL footballer (unless of course you value Norm Smith Medals and AFL Player MVP’s more).
Votes are cast by the officiating umpires of each game, which in recent years been seen as controversial due to the fact that an umpire may not be able to observe every element of a game.
The Brownlow has been awarded every year since 1924, with the exception of 1942–1945 due to World War II.
Betting on the AFL Brownlow medal is very popular, with punters usually betting on the Brownlow in the days before the big event. The best value Brownlow odds are found early in the season, if you’re good enough to spot the player with an edge.
List of Brownlow Medalists Year By Year
Below is a list of Brownlow Medal winners including including players, teams and the number of votes awarded for each year.
| Year | Player | Team | Votes |
| 1924 | Edward Greeves Jr. | Geelong | 7 |
| 1925 | Colin Watson | St Kilda | 9 |
| 1926 | Ivor Warne-Smith | Melbourne | 9 |
| 1927 | Syd Coventry | Collingwood | 7 |
| 1928 | Ivor Warne-Smith | Melbourne | 8 |
| 1929 | Albert Collier | Collingwood | 6 |
| 1930 | Harry Collierdagger | Collingwood | 4 |
| Allan Hopkinsdagger | Footscray | 4 | |
| Stan Judkins | Richmond | 4 | |
| 1931 | Haydn Bunton Sr. | Fitzroy | 26 |
| 1932 | Haydn Bunton Sr. | Fitzroy | 23 |
| 1933 | Wilfred Smallhorn | Fitzroy | 18 |
| 1934 | Dick Reynolds | Essendon | 19 |
| 1935 | Haydn Bunton Sr. | Fitzroy | 24 |
| 1936 | Denis Ryan | Fitzroy | 26 |
| 1937 | Dick Reynolds | Essendon | 27 |
| 1938 | Dick Reynolds | Essendon | 18 |
| 1939 | Marcus Whelan | Collingwood | 23 |
| 1940 | Des Fothergilldagger | Collingwood | 32 |
| Herbie Matthewsdagger | South Melbourne | 32 | |
| 1941 | Norman Ware | Footscray | 23 |
| 1946 | Don Cordner | Melbourne | 20 |
| 1947 | Bert Deacon | Carlton | 20 |
| 1948 | Bill Morris | Richmond | 24 |
| 1949 | Col Austendagger | Hawthorn | 23 |
| Ron Clegg | South Melbourne | 23 | |
| 1950 | Allan Ruthven | Fitzroy | 21 |
| 1951 | Bernie Smith | Geelong | 23 |
| 1952 | Roy Wright | Richmond | 21 |
| Bill Hutchisondagger | Essendon | 21 | |
| 1953 | Bill Hutchison | Essendon | 26 |
| 1954 | Roy Wright | Richmond | 29 |
| 1955 | Fred Goldsmith | South Melbourne | 21 |
| 1956 | Peter Box | Footscray | 22 |
| 1957 | Brian Gleeson | St Kilda | 24 |
| 1958 | Neil Roberts | St Kilda | 20 |
| 1959 | Verdun Howelldagger | St Kilda | 20 |
| Bob Skilton | South Melbourne | 20 | |
| 1960 | John Schultz | Footscray | 20 |
| 1961 | John James | Carlton | 21 |
| 1962 | Alistair Lord | Geelong | 28 |
| 1963 | Bob Skilton | South Melbourne | 20 |
| 1964 | Gordon Collis | Carlton | 27 |
| 1965 | Noel Teasdaledagger | North Melbourne | 20 |
| Ian Stewart | St Kilda | 20 | |
| 1966 | Ian Stewart | St Kilda | 21 |
| 1967 | Ross Smith | St Kilda | 24 |
| 1968 | Bob Skilton | South Melbourne | 24 |
| 1969 | Kevin Murray | Fitzroy | 19 |
| 1970 | Peter Bedford | South Melbourne | 25 |
| 1971 | Ian Stewart | Richmond | 21 |
| 1972 | Len Thompson | Collingwood | 25 |
| 1973 | Keith Greig | North Melbourne | 27 |
| 1974 | Keith Greig | North Melbourne | 27 |
| 1975 | Gary Dempsey | Footscray | 20 |
| 1976 | Graham Moss | Essendon | 48 |
| 1977 | Graham Teasdale | South Melbourne | 59 |
| 1978 | Malcolm Blight | North Melbourne | 22 |
| 1979 | Peter Moore | Collingwood | 22 |
| 1980 | Kelvin Templeton | Footscray | 23 |
| 1981 | Bernie Quinlan | Fitzroy | 22 |
| Barry Round | South Melbourne | 22 | |
| 1982 | Brian Wilson | Melbourne | 23 |
| 1983 | Ross Glendinning | North Melbourne | 24 |
| 1984 | Peter Moore | Melbourne | 24 |
| 1985 | Brad Hardie | Footscray | 22 |
| 1986 | Robert DiPierdomenico | Hawthorn | 17 |
| Greg Williams | Sydney | 17 | |
| 1987 | John Platten | Hawthorn | 20 |
| Tony Lockett | St Kilda | 20 | |
| 1988 | Gerard Healy | Sydney | 20 |
| 1989 | Paul Couch | Geelong | 22 |
| 1990 | Tony Liberatore | Footscray | 18 |
| 1991 | Jim Stynes | Melbourne | 25 |
| 1992 | Scott Wynd | Footscray | 20 |
| 1993 | Gavin Wanganeen | Essendon | 18 |
| 1994 | Greg Williams | Carlton | 30 |
| 1995 | Paul Kelly | Sydney | 21 |
| 1996 | James Hird | Essendon | 21 |
| Michael Voss | Brisbane Bears | 21 | |
| 1997 | Robert Harvey | St Kilda | 26 |
| 1998 | Robert Harvey | St Kilda | 32 |
| 1999 | Shane Crawford | Hawthorn | 28 |
| 2000 | Shane Woewodin | Melbourne | 24 |
| 2001 | Jason Akermanis | Brisbane Lions | 23 |
| 2002 | Simon Black | Brisbane Lions | 25 |
| 2003 | Mark Ricciuto | Adelaide | 22 |
| Nathan Buckley | Collingwood | 22 | |
| Adam Goodes | Sydney | 22 | |
| 2004 | Chris Judd | West Coast | 30 |
| 2005 | Ben Cousins | West Coast | 20 |
| 2006 | Adam Goodes | Sydney | 26 |
| 2007 | Jimmy Bartel | Geelong | 29 |
| 2008 | Adam Cooney | Western Bulldogs | 24 |
| 2009 | Gary Ablett Jr | Geelong | 30 |
| 2010 | Chris Judd | Carlton | 30 |
| 2011 | Dane Swan | Collingwood | 34 |
| 2012 | Trent Cotchin | Richmond | 26 |
| Sam Mitchell | Hawthorn | 26 | |
| 2013 | Gary Ablett Jr | Gold Coast | 28 |
| 2014 | Matt Priddis | West Coast | 26 |
| 2015 | Nathan Fyfe | Fremantle | 31 |
| 2016 | Patrick Dangerfield | Geelong | 35 |
| 2017 | Dustin Martin | Richmond | 36 |
Brownlow Vote leaders who were ineligible
To date there have been three unfortunate souls who polled the most Brownlow votes in an AFL season who didn’t take it home (with the exception of Jobe Watson, who had it on loan for a good couple of years).
| Player | Team | Year | Votes | Outcome | ||
| Corey McKernan | North Melbourne | 1996 | 21 | Suspended for striking John Barnes (Geel); would have joined winners J. Hird and M. Voss. | ||
| Chris Grant | Western Bulldogs | 1997 | 27 | Suspended for striking Leigh Colbert; would have won outright, beating R. Harvey by 1 vote. | ||
| Jobe Watson | Essendon | 2012 | 30 | Awarded the Brownlow Medal in 2012, leading S. Mitchell and T. Cotchin by 4 votes. In 2016 he was retrospectively ruled ineligible for taking a banned substance. | ||