Overview
- Daicos won the 2026 Brownlow Medal at Crown Palladium on Monday with a record 47 votes, polling three votes 13 times and appearing in the umpires’ votes in 18 of 22 matches.
- Geelong’s Bailey Smith finished second on 36 votes and Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli placed third on 34 votes while Bontempelli also broke the all-time record for most three-vote games.
- This season umpires were able to consult match statistics when casting votes, a procedural change that commentators and officials noted as a factor in voting patterns.
- Five Sydney Swans players were barred by their club from attending the count but remained eligible to receive votes — Isaac Heeney polled 26 votes — and a Victoria Police inquiry into an alleged Pullman Hotel incident from August is ongoing.
- The count was broadcast live on Channel Seven and 7plus, the ceremony also announced Nick Watson as Mark of the Year and Conor McKenna as Goal of the Year, and Daicos had already won the AFLPA and Coaches Association player-of-the-year awards this season.