By Ben Talintyre

Copyright news

Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell won the Brownlow Medal in a surprise result on Monday night, with the Suns midfielder topping the vote count with 39 votes — the second most ever.

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Daicos could again consider himself very unlucky not to have won a Brownlow Medal, given the blistering start he has made to his career.

The 22-year-old became the fastest player to record 100 career Brownlow votes, and he has 109 votes after just four seasons in the AFL.

The hot favourite heading into the vote count, Daicos had to settle for second with 32 votes as he claimed a third consecutive podium finish at the Brownlow.

It’s a second runner-up finish for Daicos after he placed second behind Patrick Cripps last year. He also finished third in 2023, three votes behind the winner Lachie Neale.

And it has led Dillon to suggest that those who finish on the podium in the Brownlow Medal tally could soon be recognised with an award.

“You look at when the clubs do their best and fairest, they sort of celebrate from first down to 10th. And there’s an acknowledgment for all of that. And even clubs have trophies named for their second, third and fourth in the B & F,” Dillon told Channel 7.

“So I think if there was a way that we could acknowledge, particularly second and third, in the Brownlow.

“We’ve got nearly 800 players, and so for Matt Rowell, what an incredible effort that he’s had, but Nick Daicos has come top three, three years in a row.

“And that should be celebrated rather than sort of commiserated, I think.

“We’d have to work out, would it be on the night or would you do it afterwards? But I think there’s certainly something that should be celebrated about the placings in the Brownlow. I think there’s something in that,” he added.

After just four seasons, Daicos has achieved everything possible apart from a Brownlow Medal.

He is a premiership player, three-time All Australian, Collingwood best and fairest winner, 2024 Coach’s Association Player of the Year and this year’s Leigh Matthews AFL Players Association MVP.

AFL boss breaks silence on voting controversy

The biggest talking point from Monday night’s event was again the voting system.

Controversy kicked off last year when Patrick Cripps obliterated the record for the most votes polled with 45 before things were reignited overnight when Matt Rowell romped to victory with the second most votes ever (39).

Take nothing away from Rowell, but the AFL is under pressure like never before to take voting responsibilities away from umpires following years of criticism.

This was perfectly encapsulated by the uproar after St Kilda superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was surprisingly overlooked for three votes despite kicking four goals and having 34 touches in the club’s Round 20 win over the Demons.

Instead, Melbourne’s Jack Viney was awarded three votes for his 23 touches and 16 tackles. And it was clear nobody in the room agreed.

Dillon was asked point-blank about the topic when he sat on the AFL 360 desk on Tuesday night, where he admitted the issue would be discussed with the umpiring department after the season is over.

“It’s a topic and it came up last year and certainly this year, but ultimately the Brownlow is the umpire’s award,” Dillon said.

“We will go to the umpiring group, like we did last year. There is a bit of talk about should they have access to the stats.

“The leadership group from the umpires last year weren’t comfortable as it is, but we’ll have a chat with them in the off-season again.”

The comments from Dillon are in stark contrast to what he said last year when he refused to consider making any changes to the voting process, despite the widespread criticism.

He said the umpires were “trusted implicitly” to deliberate over the votes without needing to be supplied with match statistics before casting their votes.

But after the 2025 count, which included one of the greatest Brownlow Medal robberies in AFL history, change must be forthcoming.

Dillon said the conversations centred around the process and the umpires being given access to stats before voting will unfold once the Grand Final has been played.

“We’re not deaf to the opinions of those that matter,” Dillon said.