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.

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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

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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.

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