Overview
- Nick Daicos secured the 2026 Brownlow Medal on Monday, September 21, 2026, finishing on a record 47 votes and sealing the result with rounds to spare.
- Umpires were allowed to consult a set of player statistics before casting votes this season, a change that coincided with Daicos polling in 18 of 22 games and receiving 13 maximum three-vote games.
- Bailey Smith finished second on 36 votes and Marcus Bontempelli was third on 34 votes while Bontempelli also extended the all-time record for career three-vote (best-on-ground) games.
- Five Sydney Swans players who were stood down by their club after the Pullman Hotel incident remained eligible and polled votes despite not attending the count, and a police investigation into related allegations is ongoing.
- Daicos also won the AFL Players’ Association and AFL Coaches Association player-of-the-year awards this season, and his dominance under the new voting process is likely to intensify scrutiny of vote access, positional bias toward high-disposal midfielders, and calls for further review.