Any system that literally gives zero recognition to 70% of the players on the field because they aren’t a midfielder is broken

If I was the umpires, I'd happily give this away. They have enough to focus on.

It's a best and fairest award... its not just about stats. The thing that has changed is there are more stats, more replays, more commentaries... but there are also now 4 umpires - watching more facets of the game, including off-ball behavior. "Fairest" is still 50% of what best and fairest actual means and stats don't reflect any of that 1/2 of the award basis.

I'm a Lions supporter, and I didn't expect Neale to win. In fact I was a little shocked when he did. In my opinion, he wasn't even Brisbane's best player for the year, let alone the best player in the competition. But he won. And, because of way the Brownlow is set up, he won it fair and square. So by all means, criticise the way the Brownlow is adjudicated. But unfortunately the way this conversation has developed - particularly in the media - Lachie Neale is preparing for one of the biggest games of his career with a large proportion of the footy world telling him he received what is (generally) regarded as one of the most prestigious medals in our game, but doesn't deserve it. Right now, if I was him, I'd be saying take this medal and shove it where the sun don't shine, I've got a Grand Final to win.

Congratulations to him, bloke is a star. People are just salty that [Insert Player Here] didn't win or poll in a game they believe they should have. Grow up lads, it's footy.

I’m not sure what the controversy is, a few media outlets predicted he would win it before it happened. Just people with sour grapes. It’s the umpires award to hand out, they can give votes to whoever they see fit. It’s not right or wrong, but their opinion, just like the AFL PA awards, or media awards, or the coaches award.

Damn, i feel bad for Lachie. "Congratulations, Lachie. But this is why you shouldn't have won and what should happen to stop it happening again." Give it 6 months, boys. jesus christ.

NO! what needs to happen is THE MEDIA putting less importance on the Brownlow and more importance on the medals that are not based on UMPIRE votes.

Umps get some wrong, so do the media if they were to do it. Look at the AA, so many criticisms 414 games, I think the amount they get 'wrong' is acceptable

Neale should've won it last year so he's still a deserving dual brownlow medallist. It's just a shame his second came at the expense of 4 or 5 other players this year.

Brownlow lost credibility years ago. Just another thing AFL is so far behind professional sport in other codes

You would think that with now, 4 umpires it might broaden the focus, but it appears nup! Be interesting to sit in the room after a game and listen to their discussions around how they will vote.

Journos selecting all australian teams....and getting it wrong....of course

Well done Lachie Neale..a superb player who continually had possesions that led to brisbane scores and was constsantly getting off the ground after getting targeted and fought on. What controversy?? No Im not a brisbane supporter. Leigh Matthews made sense.

Why not let the emergency umpire focus on the Brownlow votes and give feedback to the officiating umpires. That way the tradition of the umpires giving the votes continues on… yet you have an umpire who can also keep an eye on stats and roles given to players

This comes up every year because the commentators “know best” and the umpires know nothing … according to the naysayers. It’s 100% guaranteed that if the Brownlow was awarded by a coaches group, or a senior player’s group, or an expert panel of any sort that there would still be debate and argument about who is the best player. The Brownlow is an umpire’s award and should remain so. Umpires do understand the game, get ground level experience and vision of the players and the play throughout the year and are varied from game to game. Let’s stop all this nonsense and focus on giving credit to the player so awarded across the whole season by different umpires. Convince me that commentators don’t have favourites and allegiances. The umpires are supposed to be neutral and they are the closest you’ll get to an impartial outcome. CONGRATULATIONS to Lachie Neale the 2023 winner of the umpire’s fairest and best.

Stats mean bugger all. It's already a midfielders award. So stats are just going to now gaurantee it just a midfield award. As for AA selection it needs to be a totally non bias selection process because as it sits, those who were aligned with a club picked that clubs players. Heavy representation of 2 clubs is a reflection not of ladder position or effort but of selection prejudice. Of the AA side when it really counts in finals of the teams who made finals who actually stood up under pressure, it wasn't the players who went out week 1 or 2. This is supposed to be the best of the best yet if they can't stand up under pressure of big games whats the point. Racking up big possessions against weak oposition isn't AA worthy. You look at teams in top 8 and during home and away season there was only 1 team with a 7 out of 8 record (and only played the team they lost against in round 1 mind you once) after the first week of finals the only team to beat all top 8 contenders through the year, yet had 1 representative in the AA side. It's indicative of a flawed system. If you can perform against the top 8 sides consistently this should warrant more weight than those that can't. Andrews is the best fullback/CHB in the league by a long stretch yet overlooked...... why? Mostly because he's out of the Melbourne media bubble yet Wilkie got the nod. Ok not saying Wilkie had a bad year but when he had a quality opponent he wasn't as effective as Andrews. How did Wilkie organise his back 6 how effective was he in that department? As an AA member consideration needs to given to leadership but because it's not a measurable stat it's not given the recognition esspecialy in key position elements of the team. This year's AA side is not reflective of ladder positions nor team performance. Bont gets a gig ....... why? He's a good player in an average side so he stands out. Great sides don't need anyone to stand out but they do need 23 role players. Put Cripps, Neal, Daicos or any decent midfielder into a average side and they will also stand out. The fact that Neal won the Brownlow is indicative of the situation a good player still gets recognised in what is clearly the 2nd best team if not the best team in the comp, when you look at wins against other top 8 sides. Yet for the large part the media won't recognise his season because his average possessions were down from previous years. Then again he had alot more help and didn't have to dominate possession counts. I wonder if his effective possession % increased on the back of that. Possessions is one the effective possessions is gold.

50 percent of people now don't care about the brownlow due to umpires having no idea.

Lol Kane thinks the media or talking heads could pick the Brownlow medalist while thinking they could pick anyone other than a midfielder for the medal. It's a joke right?

If the AFL didn’t read the votes in an order to maximise suspense, there would be less angst. If they read out Brisbane’s game first, he would be 4 votes clear of Bontempelli and the outrage wouldn’t be near what it was. It’s because they let Bontempelli jump to first, then Neale after to jump Bontempelli, purely for the spectacle

It is funny when the media predict a winner and get it wrong you mean

It doesn’t need to change any rules at all

AFLCA Champion Player of the Year award should be the highest individual honour in Aussie rules footy.

Can some one please start a partition to get this show cut. Cant believe its still on the air🤷.

The issue is where players like Neale will play fantastic games and not get anything and then have a below average day and somehow get 3 votes. Imo a forward that kicks a bag of 6 is more important than a mid that has 34 touches.

Its as the unpires see it, not how the statisticians see it.

A South Australian playing in QLD. Of course theyre not happy about it. If it was a Victorian playing in Victoria, it would get a quick mention then they'd go back to applauding the player.

Most other sports around the world don't do their 'player of the year' (MVP, best and fairest etc..) awards on this game-by-game basis that Australian sports seem to love (because it suits a televised awards night). There seems to be more of a big-picture analysis at the end of the season. As long as the Brownlow is round-by-round voting (just like the coaches award) you will get midfielders winning every time because that is the position where it is easiest for a player to be consistently good

Neales a deserved winner again a humble champion

Everyone forgetting the games neale should've gotten votes for this year and got none or 1 Like round 15. Stats are meaningless without context, they'd be focusing on meaningless disposals half the time like the all australian selectors do. They left neale out simply because of how high his standards are and some bs from champion data saying hes the 200th midfielder in the game, same with taranto. Where was this outrage when neale actually got robbed last year, cripps had his appeal denied but got off on a legal loophole, yet the vic media was silent

Would they be happy if everyone on ground got votes. Brownlow medals for everyone for participation

Errol Gulden got around 42 possessions in the final game and only got 1 vote … 😂

Bont robbed

Yep not in all Australian but wins best player award. Go figure.

Ok you focus on 1 game but you don't take into account the following 2 games where he was best on ground yet score 0 votes. I think you guys may have missed the sarcasim in Mathews. He wasnt actually saying base it off of champion data, it was a backhanded slap to the AA selectors

The fact that midfielders are the only ones eligible is not a bug in the system, it's a damn feature. If a forward is dominating a game, it is because he has had the ball delivered to them aplenty, by who? If a defender is getting a metric crapton of the ball, it's because the opposition midfield is delivering the ball in to begin with. 70% of the players get zero recognition because they don't actively participate in 40% of the game. If your team is dominating time in forward half, why would Harris Andrews or Sam Taylor or Darcy Moore get alot of the ball. Conversely, I think it's safe to say that Joe Daniher and Charlie Curnow aren't lighting up the D50 Rebound stat line that often either - but the midfields are the ones that follow the football wherever it is on the field. The notion that players who are entirely reliant on other factors to influence the game should win an award based on influence on the game is farcical. It's like awarding a nine year old with the "richest kid in class" trophy, without acknowledging that all their money is funnelled into them from their mummy and daddy.

How dare the best player of the year get the award, after all its only been going well over 100 years now, and I agree with Cornes, whoever the joker thinks he is, lets change all the rules whilst we are at it, lets play on a square field and use a round ball, and players must only wear sandals, that should work...

Eye test and stats don’t even backup Lachie

What do you expect from the umpires? They're already got the toughest gig in the game and now you're harrassing them over this too? When they make a judgement, they make it then and there based on what they can see and they're just as human as everybody else, they don't get the benefit of hindsight. Ofcourse they'll be biased towards midfielders, they get most of the ball, ofcourse they'll be biased towards the most known players, all you lot do is pump up the big stars, this is all normal natural human behaviour. Stop treating them as if they should be god like. If you want to change the rules, then change the rules but don't sit there and act like the umpires are getting it wrong when they're literally doing everything you ask them to do with all of the tools you've given them.

Kane anytime someone else talks:🗿

Leave it alone. It's not a stats award, things that don't draw stats still matter which the umpires see

The amount of work forwards do ahead of the ball that goes unrewarded or even unnoticed makes awards like the Brownlow rather pointless anyway. A tagger may do the job his coach wants him to to perfection week in week out, shut down the oppos best player and help his team win games but same deal, gets no recognition. It’s essentially a CBA, number of disposals award

Just call it the best midfielder award

The midfielder of the year, that's all the Brownlow ever was

Well the issue with the Brown-eye Medal is that there is too many hairy cracks with stains however it needs to be clean ass crack

This conversation wouldn’t be happening if Daicos or the some other Victorian player had won it. Love the anti Brisbane bias.

The umpires have a unique perspective on the game and should keep the responsibility. But it is the 3,2,1 system which skews the voting so strongly toward midfielder in the top teams. If they used stats this wouldn't change. And stat's can be very misleading. I think the 54321 system is far better. I don't know why the WAFL abandoned their adoption of it.

Lachie Neale should not be dragged into this, he's been good enough for 2 medals, just not this year. The problem is the voting not the players involved.

The award is a midfielder’s award. Can’t think of a recent key position player winner other than Goodes who won as a ruck once (midfielder the other time).

Gambling on sport is the only thing that needs an overhaul,should be banned

The reason why people are angry in part, rightly or wrongly, is because generational players like Bontempelli and Petracca have zero Brownlows while Lachie Neale has two. Most of the generational midfielders get their Brownlow, but just imagine if a Nathan Buckley or Michael Voss or a Dustin Martin DIDN’T win one; there would be a similar level of frustration. Daicos, Butters and Gulden are all very young, so they should have many opportunities to win the Brownlow before they retire, but Bont and Trac will both be 28 come round 1 next year. It’s just the cruelty and injustice of sport.

We need to overhaul because collingwood says so.

So your saying most possessions wins now! It's a midfielder award period if you can't see that your dead set blind!!!!😮

So Nick Daicos Collingwood didn't get the Brownlow and the internet blew up. Imagine if Collingwood lose the Grand final by an umpire error just like Adelaide lost to Sydney. The AFL will have a Review about everything. Get over it . Over 50 years the same Brownlow system . Now we want it changed 🤔

Stats are all well and good but then daicos gets more votes from his cheep kick out disposal stat

Yep screwed over by a joke of a judiciary last year with Cripps winning, so swings and roundabouts. All I heard was crickets last year regarding Cripps winning, yet this year everyone is having a sook. Get over it and move on people there are bigger things to fix in the AFL.

Its the BEST and FAIREST - who is to say that players lose a vote or too for not being the FAIREST - mouthy players, dirty tacktics, etc...

When you have players getting 1 or no votes for a 40 touches game and a couple goals (ie. Gulden), while simultaneously a player gets 3 votes for 13 touches with half of them ineffective (ie. Horne-Francis), you know something’s wrong. The umpires already have enough on their plate with trying to officiate games with rules all over the place, I don’t think it’s fair to anyone to let them also try an decipher who’s the best on the ground, especially when they’re clearly getting it wrong.

Lloyd coaches and watches a whole game and states he has no idea who has played well??? are you kidding me. stupid VFL coming to the surface?

The best player isn't just about stats. The fantasy footy people don't seem to understand that. So if the people are shocked, then it means the system is working as it should.

Giving an award based on stats alone is nonsense. Players can have average total disposal stats during a game, however, can have a huge impact on the game through other variables like on field communication, leadership, and effort.

Somebody please blow up champion data

Bradbury

Every AFL State has a Metal voted by the umpires and do you want those States , Clubs to change History as well 🏉🏉

ah well, lachie won :)

Having the umpires vote after a match without any stats is bush league stuff. Anyway, it’s voted game to game. If Neale is the best player in his games with average 24 possessions then he will pole the same as Gulden who is the best player in his games yet averages 40 possessions. Basic stuff

Give the goal umpires a vote

The biggest problem with the Brownlow is that anyone who isnt a midfielder is out of the running by default. They should change it to a category system. Best full forward, best mid fielder, best backman etc.

Sour grapes

The people who didn't accept the result probably lost badly on the punt. The AFL website's Brownlow Predictor had Lachie Neale as a clear favourite, in fact they predicted that he would get more votes than he actually did.

If the medal was won by a Victorian team, we would not be having this conversation.

The great thing about Lachie Neale's win is that he said pre-season that he was going to work more on his defensive game at the expense of getting the ball more often. The stats don't pick that up the defensive stuff but the umps may have.

The main thing that makes the Brownlow interesting is that it has a unique voting system that can throw up unexpected results. If you take that away, you may as well pull the entire award.

The Brownlow is outdated. The only way to do the Medal is with Medals, 3 of them. The best forward , midfielder and defender. Forwards and defenders are excluded from winning, so they need their own award.

"fairest and best" ... that's what the Brownlow is about and the umpires get a better sense of FAIREST than Champion Data

No. Not a Brisbane supporter but the umpires adjudicated him best player of the year and let's just accept this and move on. And for any Collingwood fans, most Australians have come to terms with the fact you will have premiership medallions around your teams necks, and most AFL players will happily take a flag over a brownlow. Move on, please.

Nothing against Lachie Neale but as usual an on ball player wins. The Brownlow should of been changed decades ago, on how voting is assessed.

NO seriously wouldnt be any different who ever you put into picking, someone wouldnt agree with results and stats dont even tell you the whole story, stop trying to play with the history of our game

And as for what Kane said about "hAve To bE MiDfiElder" just make a Defensive medal (I put forward the Mal Michael medal... or stop whinging, simple

Kane should be banned from all australian selector ..rozee😅😅😅😅😅

Why the hell do you wanna change it?! Cos you think someone else should have won?! ust bloody leave it alone! It is what it is!

Gulden should have win easy

Funny how there seems to be more controversy over this year's Brownlow as opposed to last year when Cripps won it because of a couple of brown paper bags and the right lawyers. If anything, this year just makes up for 2022 when Lachie should've won his second. I will admit though by my count he should've polled 29, and shared the award this year with the Bont, but it is what it is.

Lachie Neale is truly a great player, but the fact he is a dual-Brownlow medallist is evidence the voting system is broken.

How on earth can we give the umpires the responsibility for choosing the best 3 players on the day? If they are so accurately able to pick the top three players as well as the order of merit, then they simply aren't focusing enough on officiating the game. It's arguably the hardest sport in the world to officiate and they are struggling enough to do it as it is...and we think they can also judge who played best? This is probably why umpires struggle to enforce the rules properly, as well as struggle to pick anyone other than a midfielder in their top three votes. It's such a ridiculous system. Why can't we have the All-Australian panel pick the Brownlow as well? What's wrong with that?

Brownlow is a joke , Lachie Neale great player but not this year's Brownlow Medallist. AFL the laughing stock again .😂😂😂😂😂

Not the quality of a 2 x Brownlow Winner.

You grubs contributed to turning a positive into a distraction…

How much more can disrespect can the umpires take from entitled supporters who think they know what it takes to actually umpire? Let alone the league administration who demand perfection. A lot of people are focusing on the most possession and disposals are the reason for the votes. It's a league Best and Fairest. Just because statistically they're on top, there's also the fairest element to it too. So how was the players composure or response to questionable decisions made, unnecessary banter or sledging, that we don't hear yet the umpires do all play a part in how votes are made. Keep it the way it is. Umpires are lacking respect to the point of, don't be surprised if there comes an umpire strike in the near future.

The Brownlow is the Grammy of the sports world. Utterly meaningless. Umpires voting for players removes their neutrality, and what qualifies an umpire to pick the best player? Craziness.

What about the Woke Brownlow , where every Player on the Ground gets a Brownlow Medal ,!!!

How can you trust umpires watching the best player? Fatigue whilst watching the game doesn't compliment individual brilliance and impact

Get the leadership groups of each side to vote for their BOG at the end of the game. Pretty sure this would solve this problem.

Should of changed decades ago to an independent panel. Why have an award where the majority of the players competing, have ZERO chances of winning it.

congratulations Lachie. 100% deserving winner. w4nkers gonna w4nk

Umpires have there own secret gambling ring 😮

I don't agree with what the Brownlow has become, but I also don't want the game handing out participation awards. Brownlow should be almost retired. Midfield, Back, Forward, Ruck awards. Forwards get Coleman. MIdfield can get Brownlow. Backs can get Gold First. Rucks can get some other award. Umps can give out 3, 2 and 1 but needs to include stats and done the day after.

You are always going to have issues with a subjective award given only to midfielders chosen by blokes that have never played football and are meant to be concentrating on adjudicating the rules of the game on match day. How can you win a Brownlow and not be in the All-Australian side? Someone is a poor judge

It's the Mid Field Medal! The whole of the AFL needs to be looked at, no one knows the rules any more, it's a joke, the game looks rigged!!!!

Short answer, no it does not....