Nick Daicos wins the 2026 Brownlow Medal with a record 47 votes
Nick Daicos finally won the medal that had followed him for three years, and he did it in record-breaking style!
On Monday night at Crown Palladium, the Collingwood midfielder claimed the 2026 Brownlow Medal with 47 votes, two more than Patrick Cripps’ previous single-season record, and an 11-vote winning margin over Geelong’s Bailey Smith. Marcus Bontempelli finished third.
Daicos, 23, became the first Magpie to win the award since Dane Swan in 2011 and the 10th Collingwood player in history to do so. He had finished third in 2023 and second in both 2024 and 2025. This time there was no late twist. He led for 23 of the 24 rounds, was declared the winner with three rounds still to count, and walked away with the Brownlow, the AFL Players’ Association MVP and the AFL Coaches’ Association Champion Player of the Year from the same season.
“I can’t believe I’m a Brownlow Medallist to be honest,” Daicos said after the medal was placed around his neck by 2025 winner Matt Rowell, a fellow Carey Grammar graduate. “It’s a massive award, and I’m so privileged to be up here.”
He thanked his parents, Peter and Colleen, and spoke about growing up pestering his father, a Collingwood great and AFL life member, for game tickets. “I’m not here without you,” he said.
How the count unfolded
Daicos started with a perfect nine votes from his first three games. Zak Butters briefly led after round 10. Bailey Smith drew level around the mid-season bye. Then Daicos produced the run that ended the contest: six consecutive three-vote games between rounds 15 and 20, eight best-on-ground performances in nine rounds after the bye, and an unassailable lead by round 21.
He polled in 18 of his 22 matches and collected a record 13 best-on-ground games. No other Collingwood player reached nine votes. Jordan De Goey was next at the club with eight. Daicos finished 11 votes clear of Smith (36) and 13 ahead of Bontempelli (34), matching Dustin Martin’s record winning margin from 2017. He became the first player to poll at least 30 votes in three separate seasons after tallies of 38 in 2024 and 32 in 2025.
Season averages underlined why the result felt inevitable: 34.9 disposals, 5.7 clearances, 6.7 inside-50s and 1.1 goals a game. Nike had already taken out a front-page newspaper advertisement that simply read “Inevitable.” Daicos later joked he had “learned not to trust the betting markets.” He had been the shortest-priced favourite in Brownlow history.
Records beyond the winner
Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli made history of his own. He broke Patrick Dangerfield’s all-time record for three-vote games, reaching 60 career best-on-ground performances. Lachie Neale moved past Dangerfield into second on that list. Patrick Cripps reached 45 career maximum-vote games.
Dangerfield received two votes for a five-goal game in a round 17 loss to Brisbane and moved into a tie with Gary Ablett Jr on 262 career Brownlow votes, the most in history. “He’s arguably the greatest player ever. It’s nice to have two Cats up there,” Dangerfield said of Ablett. Modern-era names also shuffled: Bontempelli into third overall on 247 career votes, Neale fourth on 245, Cripps fifth on 232. Scott Pendlebury polled in a record-equalling 20th season.
Long-serving defenders also picked up rare votes. Sydney’s Tom McCartin received three votes in round one against Brisbane, only his second career vote in 154 matches. Lachie Bramble picked up one vote in round 20, his second in 102 games.
Mark of the Year, Goal of the Year and the Jim Stynes Award
The night’s supporting awards were presented before the Brownlow count hit its climax.
Hawthorn’s Nick Watson won the Virgin Australia AFL Mark of the Year and the Alex Jesaulenko Medal for a wet-weather hanger against West Coast in round 24 at Optus Stadium. Watson climbed onto the shoulders of Liam Baker and held a courageous grab in the rain, a mark immediately compared with Gary Moorcroft’s famous 2001 hanger over Brad Johnson. The other finalists were Fremantle’s Shai Bolton, for a huge leap against Geelong in Sir Doug Nicholls Round, and Melbourne’s Kysaiah Pickett, for a soaring mark against Richmond on Anzac Day Eve. Watson received $50,000 and two million Virgin Velocity Points. In his speech, he joked that teammate Mabior Chol would not be his travel buddy and that he preferred America, with a New Zealand trip as a test.
Brisbane’s Conor McKenna won the Coles AFL Goal of the Year and the Phil Manassa Medal for an intercept and miraculous kick off the ground against Collingwood that showed his Gaelic football background. The other nominees were Western Bulldogs’ Bailey Williams, who dodged past three Brisbane opponents and snapped in the opening round, and Pickett again, for a tight-angle pocket goal in Alice Springs in round 12. McKenna received $50,000.
Fremantle’s Bailey Banfield won the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award. The 119-game Docker played only one AFL game in 2026 but was recognised for long work with the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Worthy Australia and Fremantle’s Purple Hands Foundation, plus the player-led Freo Cares program he established this year. That program mobilised teammates and staff around meals for people experiencing homelessness, safe havens for women and children escaping domestic violence, disengaged youth and seriously ill children. He also helped the Purple Haze game raise more than $300,000. Banfield is Fremantle’s first award winner and received $40,000 to donate to a cause of his choice. Finalists were Banfield, Tom Liberatore and Pickett.
On the same night, Banfield and wife Julia Edwards announced they are expecting a daughter.
Kozzy Pickett, Zak Butters and the All-Australian misses
Kysaiah Pickett was the night’s unlucky constant. The Melbourne forward was nominated for Mark of the Year, Goal of the Year and the Jim Stynes award. He polled 20 Brownlow votes, including five best-on-ground games, and left empty-handed.
Zak Butters finished with 26 votes. One of those votes came after he was fined $1,500 for abusing umpire Nick Foot during a Gather Round loss to St Kilda. The Tribunal upheld the fine, butt the Appeals Board overturned it after his defence showed a “miscarriage of justice,” with a panel member listening from his car. Umpires still awarded him one vote for 31 disposals, one goal and five clearances. Butters had briefly led the count after round 10.
All-Australian selectors faced questions after omitting Harry Sheezel and Will Ashcroft. Sheezel finished fifth on 27 votes, the most by a North Melbourne player since Ross Glendinning’s 24 in 1983. Ashcroft also finished on 27 and placed fourth in the AFL Coaches Association award. Both tied for fifth on the Brownlow with Patrick Cripps.
Red carpet and the room
Stars and partners filled the Crown Palladium carpet. Nick Daicos arrived with partner Arlette Amor in a sleek white Effie Kats halter-neck gown with a plunging back and over-the-shoulder train. Josh Daicos was there with fiancée Annalise Dalins, who wore a black strapless Alin Le’Kal corset gown and Temelli diamonds estimated at close to $1 million. The couple treated the night as a dress rehearsal weeks out from their wedding.
Patrick Dangerfield arrived with wife Mardi. Marcus Bontempelli was there with wife Neila. Max Gawn attended with wife Jessica. Other notable pairs included Josh Rachele and Cartia Condo, Max Holmes and Jess Butler, Sam Durham and Paris Bishop, and Jy Simpkin and Chloe Wheatland.
James Hird walked the carpet for the first time since 2012, 14 years after his last appearance, with partner Natalie Young. One accessory became its own talking point: Nikki Miller, partner of Fremantle’s Josh Treacy, wore the Perth Mint’s Kimberley Sunset Ring, estimated at around $900,000, featuring rare centre stones and a hidden boab-tree motif. Isaac Heeney, who finished on 26 votes, did not attend.
Seconds after receiving the award, Daicos paid tribute to eight-year-old cancer patient Logan, whom he had supported through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He signed Monday’s newspaper for the boy as promised and told the room the pair had formed a strong bond. “I think he’s probably taught me more than I taught him,” Daicos said. Cameras caught Collingwood coach Craig McRae and Amor watching from the floor.
Daicos also spoke about the spotlight that comes with being a father-son Magpie. “Being in the spotlight all the time, I feel like it’s something I’ve pushed away as the years have gone on and shied away from. I wouldn’t say I’ve struggled with it, but I’ve definitely battled with it at times.” He said he walked into the club every day immensely grateful to be an AFL footballer.
Daicos now sits with the individual honour to match a résumé that already included a premiership, four straight All-Australian blazers and the two major player-voted and coaches-voted awards from 2026. Bontempelli added another line to one of the great midfield careers. Watson, McKenna and Banfield took home the night’s other major prizes. Pickett left with nominations but no trophies. Dangerfield drew level with Ablett. Hird returned to the room.
For one night in September the focus stayed on the count, the carpet and the medal. Collingwood’s star midfielder, after three near misses, finally had Charlie around his neck.
Now fans wait as the MCG sets the stage for the 2026 Grand Final between Fremantle and Brisbane, a 2:30pm decider with no Victorian club in sight and everything on the line. The Dockers are chasing their first premiership in 31 years, a second Grand Final appearance after the 2013 heartbreak against Hawthorn, and a purple afternoon Perth has waited a generation for.
The Lions are hunting a three-peat, a fourth straight Grand Final, and a place among the rare clubs that have won three flags in a row. Brownlow night crowned the season’s best player. Saturday will decide the best team. One medal has already been hung. The cup is still waiting.
