Nick Daicos Wins 2026 Brownlow With Record 47 Votes
Nick Daicos has won the 2026 Brownlow Medal with a record 47 votes.
The Collingwood midfielder claimed his first Charlie on 21 September, pulling clear in the final rounds to break the previous record of 45 votes set by Patrick Cripps in 2024, according to The Guardian.
It is Collingwood's first Brownlow since Dane Swan in 2011. Daicos, the son of Magpies great Peter Daicos, led the count from round 11 and never gave it back.
He started fast. Nine votes from his first three games set the tone. He then piled up 13 three-vote games — best-on-ground performances as judged by the umpires, who award three votes to the best player, two to the second-best and one to the third in every home-and-away match.
The finish was ruthless. Daicos strung together six consecutive best-on-ground performances to seal the medal by round 21. No one could stay with him.
The numbers explain why. He averaged 34.9 disposals, 5.7 clearances, 6.7 inside-50s and 1.1 goals across the season. That is finding the ball more than 30 times a game, winning it at stoppages, driving it deep into attack and hitting the scoreboard himself.
Geelong's Bailey Smith finished third with 33 votes. Sydney pair Isaac Heeney and Chad Warner polled 26 and 12 votes respectively. At one stage of the night Marcus Bontempelli, Zak Butters and Smith were locked together on 20 votes, according to 7NEWS.
For Bontempelli, of the Western Bulldogs, it was familiar pain. He is now a three-time Brownlow runner-up, according to ESPN.
Daicos has knocked on this door for years. He finished eighth in 2022, third in 2023 with 28 votes, second in 2024 with 38 votes, then polled 32 votes in 2025. This season he also swept the AFL Players Association and AFL Coaches Association player-of-the-year awards.
Even the tipsters saw it coming. AFL.com.au's Brownlow Predictor had Daicos 13 votes clear of the field before the count and tipped him to poll exactly 47, with Smith on 34, according to AFL.com.au.
There was something for other clubs in the other awards. Hawthorn's Nick Watson won mark of the year. Brisbane's Conor McKenna won goal of the year.
What makes this stand out is the steadiness. Many Brownlows are won with a late burst. Daicos led for more than half the season and kept polling. For fans, this means the game's most damaging ball-winner now has the medal to match the highlights.
