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Brownlow 2025 Brownlow Count

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On the radio , it seemed the balloon deflated in room when NWM got his 2 votes , and the applause was so.muted when Rowell got enough votes to win, I was surprised when Dillon suddenly announced it was all over.
 

Well, here’s your blustering idiot.


Will take posed photos in a dark room with mirror sunnies on, or take a photo with the head of the AFL with the same sunnies on inside, but will abuse a female photographer just doing her job in a public space.

What an egotistical campaigner.
 

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Will take posed photos in a dark room with mirror sunnies on, or take a photo with the head of the AFL with the same sunnies on inside, but will abuse a female photographer just doing her job in a public space.

What an egotistical campaigner.
The fact that the AFL, through their official social media buy in to this crap, as well as Dillon basically holding his hand, is an indictment on them.
 
I didn't watch a second of the telecast as I knew it would be a joke. Just looking at the status of Gold Coast game tells me all i need to know. Libba was playing on Rowell and clearly beat him I remember it well. Libba had 35 disposals to Rowell's 20 disposals. Ranking points 140 to 56 Libba's way yet Rowell gets the 3 votes and Libba gets no votes. How the heck does this make any sense? Lol
Who won the game?

As a former umpire in suburban football this has the biggest bearing on the votes - umpires don't get to see the statistics. It is possible to get the 3 votes in a losing team but it takes a dominant game.

As for belittling Matt Rowell's win it just shows how few Gold Coast games the average BF poster actually watches. Takes me back to the time someone on this board actually didn't know who Jordan Dawson was.
 
Who won the game?

As a former umpire in suburban football this has the biggest bearing on the votes - umpires don't get to see the statistics. It is possible to get the 3 votes in a losing team but it takes a dominant game.

As for belittling Matt Rowell's win it just shows how few Gold Coast games the average BF poster actually watches. Takes me back to the time someone on this board actually didn't know who Jordan Dawson was.
Jack Viney 3 votes NWM 2 votes

You can pick these holes very quickly and easily into these arguments

Rowell had a good year was AA bench for a reason but wasn't as dominant as umpires suggested
 
The "award" is cooked. Don't even bother getting someone other than umpires to cast votes, just scrap it. It is not an even playing field for every player on the field, whether on the winning or losing team.

 
Who won the game?

As a former umpire in suburban football this has the biggest bearing on the votes - umpires don't get to see the statistics. It is possible to get the 3 votes in a losing team but it takes a dominant game.

goodcop badcop 's post tells you Liber had the dominant game!

Coaches' votes throughout the year, including from Hardwick, show Rowell got zero votes in several games... yet polled in the Brownlow! It doesn't need anyone here to have watched every Suns game - the coaches themselves clearly indicated who the dominant players were.
 
It's a shambles.

I don't know of any other sport around the world that has a similar (prestigious) award determined by umpires. It's time to admit the 101-year experiment of the umpires deciding the award is a failure. It's never too late to change things up.

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Let a panel of impartial, trusted footy identities decide the award. If I had it my way, I'd also ban being able to bet on the award to secure integrity.
 
It’s an afl event more than an actual award. The more controversy created then the more scrutiny and media coverage it gets.

Win win for the AFL.

Just like 90% of footy now it’s just media noise and fluff.

Better to ignore it.
 

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The "award" is cooked. Don't even bother getting someone other than umpires to cast votes, just scrap it. It is not an even playing field for every player on the field, whether on the winning or losing team.

Agree it's cooked. Disagree with not replacing it.
There is a place for recognising the best in any career or pursuit (acting, architecture, art, community service, sport, whatever).

The challenge is to find a suitable replacement that will withstand scrutiny, manipulation and corruption. That's not a problem with objective counting of events (eg the Colemen Medal for most goals) but much harder for subjective assessments (who was "the best" in a game where many different skills and roles are required to win a game?)

I'd probably get rid of the fairest bit too. Maybe have an exclusion clause for extreme cases (eg bringing the sport into disrepute). Nobody cares much about who is fairest any more. Its only significance is where a player is declared ineligible because he got rubbed out for a week or two.
 
Agree it's cooked. Disagree with not replacing it.
There is a place for recognising the best in any career or pursuit (acting, architecture, art, community service, sport, whatever).

The challenge is to find a suitable replacement that will withstand scrutiny, manipulation and corruption. That's not a problem with objective counting of events (eg the Colemen Medal for most goals) but much harder for subjective assessments (who was "the best" in a game where many different skills and roles are required to win a game?)

I'd probably get rid of the fairest bit too. Maybe have an exclusion clause for extreme cases (eg bringing the sport into disrepute). Nobody cares much about who is fairest any more. Its only significance is where a player is declared ineligible because he got rubbed out for a week or two.

Don't the players' and coaches' awards act as a suitable replacement though, dogwatch? Votes cast by peers/coaches who have a better understanding of the skills and roles?
 


western-bulldogs-afl-banner.jpg

Winners
Allan Hopkins (1930), Norman Ware (1941), Peter Box (1956), John Schultz (1960), Gary Dempsey (1975), Kelvin Templeton (1980), Brad Hardie (1985), Tony Liberatore (1990), Scott Wynd (1992), Adam Cooney (2008)

Most career votes
Marcus Bontempelli (213)

Most career votes (current)
Marcus Bontempelli (213)

Most three-vote games
Marcus Bontempelli (52)

Highest vote per game average
Marcus Bontempelli (0.87)
 


western-bulldogs-afl-banner.jpg

Winners
Allan Hopkins (1930), Norman Ware (1941), Peter Box (1956), John Schultz (1960), Gary Dempsey (1975), Kelvin Templeton (1980), Brad Hardie (1985), Tony Liberatore (1990), Scott Wynd (1992), Adam Cooney (2008)

Most career votes
Marcus Bontempelli (213)

Most career votes (current)
Marcus Bontempelli (213)

Most three-vote games
Marcus Bontempelli (52)

Highest vote per game average
Marcus Bontempelli (0.87)
They pinched all that from this thread!
 
Don't the players' and coaches' awards act as a suitable replacement though, dogwatch? Votes cast by peers/coaches who have a better understanding of the skills and roles?
Perhaps.
At the moment the AFLPA and AFLCA awards run a fairly distant second to the Brownlow in terms of cachet and media coverage. Even if you and I value them far more than the Brownlow.

My understanding is that the AFLPA Award is voted on annually by all registered players and the coaches award is voted on by the two coaches after each game (as published each week by the AFL). So far it appears they have been generally fair assessments by the coaches and players.

However as soon as one or the other award officially (or even unofficially) fills the void created by abolishing the Brownlow it becomes much more significant in terms of media coverage, club prestige, player emoluments, player sponsorships, gambling outcomes, etc It will then become subject to temptation by these club aligned people (coaches or players) to vote for their own teammates or their own betting slips.

That of course is a risk right now with umpires (as is regularly rumoured) but at least the umpires are supposedly club-neutral and are official employees of the AFL. Their votes can be audited and action taken if they appear to be way out of whack. That's not something that can be done by the AFL with the AFLPA and AFLCA awards. More generally the AFL is a jealous control-freak of a god and will not want to cede control of the Best Player Award to any other outfit.

A better (but still imperfect) solution would be to have independent judges for the Brownlow - definitely not media "personalities" please, but probably ex-players & coaches who do "have a better understanding of the skills and roles". Their job is to come up with the best players each round. I wouldn't object if they changed the voting system to be something like the coaches awards, ie 5-4-3-2-1. They wouldn't necessarily have to come to a consensus. Maybe have 4 of these judges per game giving their top 5 votes and add them all up, so that any one player can get up to 20 votes. A bit like the voting system for the Charles Sutton Medal.

There could also (theoretically) be as many as 20 different players getting votes in any one game. The AFL would LOVE that! The Brownlow count could go on for about 16 hours!

Naturally this is still going to be an imperfect system because it has all the potential shortcomings of the AA team and the Rising Star. The judges at each game could vote according to their betting slips, favourite team, personal preferences, grudges or whatever. But that's always going to be the case with any subjective judgements. At least all of these votes can be audited each year for irregularities. Judges with suspect voting patterns can be quietly moved off the panel before next season. The AFL can't exercise that option with the AFLCA and AFLPA awards.

You would obviously need a large panel of around 30-50 judges. Four judges per game, 9 games per week, some ability for them to double up on games each week, but a reserve list also needed. Perhaps even have a deliberate policy of rotation so they each miss one game in every 4-5 weeks.
 
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Who won the game?

As a former umpire in suburban football this has the biggest bearing on the votes - umpires don't get to see the statistics. It is possible to get the 3 votes in a losing team but it takes a dominant game.
If this was the case then we would be seeing defenders get votes.
There is absolutely no excuse for Libba not getting a vote. I remember this game well as others have already said. It was Libba and Rowell head to head and Libba won it convincingly, no need to look at any stats.
 
The coaches votes should be the one that counts. Even add a third person to vote, ie small group of ex players that can watch every game. Those votes seem to reward the best players no matter what position or role they play.
 

Round nine
The umpires and coaches were at opposite ends of votes twice in round nine. Tristan Xerri (19 disposals, 36 hitouts and 12 clearances) got 10 from the coaches but none from the umpires, who preferred Cam Rayner for his 14 touches and three goals as the Lions drew with the Roos. Rowell was the beneficiary again as he got three Brownlow votes for 20 disposals, five clearances and a goal in a win over the Bulldogs, with Tom Liberatore (35 disposals, 10 tackles and 10 clearances) getting none from the umpires and 10 from the coaches. Giants forward Jesse Hogan booted seven goals in a win over the Cats to get 10 coaches' votes, but he too got no love from the umpires.

Players who got three Brownlow votes but no coaches' votes
Round 1: Chad Warner v Brisbane
Round 1: Jack Viney v Greater Western Sydney
Round 4: Matt Rowell v Adelaide
Round 5: Dayne Zorko v Western Bulldogs
Round 6: Reilly O'Brien v Greater Western Sydney
Round 7: Matt Rowell v Sydney
Round 9: Matt Rowell v Western Bulldogs
Round 9: Cam Rayner v North Melbourne
Round 12: Tom Green v Richmond
Round 14: Patrick Cripps v West Coast
Round 15: Dayne Zorko v Geelong
Round 22: Mark Blicavs v Essendon
Round 24: Patrick Cripps v Essendon


Players who got 10 coaches' votes but no Brownlow votes
Round 1: Toby Greene v Melbourne
Round 1: Jarrod Witts v West Coast
Round 2: Tristan Xerri v Melbourne
Round 4: Riley Thilthorpe v Gold Coast
Round 5: Tom Atkins v Adelaide
Round 6: Shaun Mannagh v Hawthorn
Round 9: Tom Liberatore v Western Bulldogs
Round 9: Jesse Hogan v Geelong
Round 9: Tristan Xerri v Brisbane
Round 10: Noah Anderson v Hawthorn
Round 10: Shai Bolton v Greater Western Sydney
Round 14: Jarman Impey v Adelaide
Round 15: Darcy Cameron v St Kilda
Round 16: Dan Curtin v Richmond
Round 16: Scott Pendlebury v West Coast
Round 17: Brodie Grundy v Fremantle
Round 18: Sam Switkowski v Hawthorn
Round 22: Aliir Aliir v Fremantle
Round 23: Zac Bailey v Fremantle
Round 23: Darcy Cameron v Adelaide
Round 24: Tristan Xerri v Adelaide
 
The coaches votes should be the one that counts. Even add a third person to vote, ie small group of ex players that can watch every game. Those votes seem to reward the best players no matter what position or role they play.

I feel like the coaches votes get manipulated quite a lot. The star players always seem to get a few cheeky votes here and there
 
I feel like the coaches votes get manipulated quite a lot. The star players always seem to get a few cheeky votes here and there
Probably as they are made public and they want be seen supporting their stars. In the format i suggest only the total votes of both coaches and ex player would be visible.
 

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