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| Date | 26 September | |||
| Location | Crown Palladium | |||
| Host | Bruce McAvaney | |||
| Winner | Dane Swan (Collingwood) | |||
| Votes | 34 | |||
| Broadcaster | Seven Network | |||
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The Brownlow Medal is the most prestigious individual award in Australian rules football. The award was presented on Monday, 26 September, in the week before the 2011 AFL Grand Final.
Contents |
Collingwood's Dane Swan won the Brownlow Medal, polling 34 votes, a record number of votes in a Brownlow Medal counted under the 3-2-1 voting system.[1]
| Player | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dane Swan (Collingwood) | 34 |
| Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)* | 30 | |
| 2nd | Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda) | 28 |
| =3rd | Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs) Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood) |
24 |
| =5th | Gary Ablett, Jr. (Gold Coast) Chris Judd (Carlton) |
23 |
| Lance Franklin (Hawthorn)* | 20 | |
| =7th | Adam Goodes (Sydney) Marc Murphy (Carlton) Matthew Priddis (West Coast) |
19 |
| Brent Moloney (Melbourne)* | 19 | |
| 10th | Dean Cox (West Coast) | 18 |
The three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and are read and tallied on the evening.
For most of the season, Carlton's Chris Judd was an overwhelming favourite in betting markets to win the award for a second consecutive year, and third time overall. By Round 18, his odds were shorter than $2 to win the award, and one agency, Sportsbet, decided to pay out early to all punters who had already backed Judd for the win.[3] Sydney's Adam Goodes, who had attracted odds as wide as $30 during the season, had a very strong end to the season, and closed in to second-favouritism by the count.[4] Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury and Dane Swan, and Carlton's Marc Murphy, were also expected to feature prominently in the count.
As the award is for the fairest and best player in the league, players found guilty of a suspendable offence by the AFL Tribunal are ineligible to win the award, but are still allowed to poll votes.
The most notable player ineligible for the 2011 Brownlow Medal was Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell. Mitchell received a one-match sanction, which was reduced to a reprimand without suspension with an early guilty plea, for rough conduct against Geelong's Steve Johnson in Round 5.[5] Mitchell featured prominently in several media best and fairest awards, including winning the Lou Richards Medal[6] and the Herald Sun Player of the Year,[7] and was considered a realistic chance to poll the most votes; he ultimately polled the second-most votes, four fewer than winner Dane Swan. His 30 votes was the most by any ineligible player in AFL history.
Other ineligible players included: Dale Thomas (Collingwood); Joel Selwood, Joel Corey, Matthew Scarlett, Brad Ottens (Geelong); Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli, Jordan Lewis (Hawthorn); Shane Mumford, Ryan O'Keefe (Sydney); Leigh Montagna, Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda); Colin Sylvia, Jack Trengove, Brent Moloney (Melbourne); Jack Redden (Brisbane Lions); Brent Stanton (Essendon); Luke McPharlin (Fremantle); Nathan Bock (Gold Coast); Nic Naitanui (West Coast); and Daniel Cross (Western Bulldogs).[8]
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