Star's farcical vote, 'perplexing' tallies lead to calls for Brownlow Medal system to be blown up
There are calls for the Brownlow Medal voting system to be blown up after astronomical tallies for winner Patrick Cripps and runner up Nick Daicos raised eyebrows.
Daicos broke the record for the most votes ever received under the 3-2-1 voting system yet still finished a whopping seven votes behind two-time winner Cripps.
Cripps polled 45 votes to Daicos' 38. The previous record, which was shared by Dustin Martin and Ollie Wines, was 36.
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Patrick Cripps was a deserving Brownlow winner, but questions are being asked about some of votes. Getty
Cripps polled 45 of a possible 69 votes, polled in 17 of 23 games, and was best-on-ground in 12 of them. He also polled in five Blues losses, and was best-on-ground in three of them.
While Cripps thoroughly deserved the medal, there were more than a couple of matches in which his votes confounded the experts.
But possibly the most bizarre of the outliers was Daicos receiving a vote in a match in which he had only 15 disposals and was subbed out of the game.
Josh Daicos was controversially snubbed of a vote in the Magpies' win over Essendon. Getty
On King's Birthday Monday, Collingwood beat Melbourne by six goals. While Nick was subbed out as a precaution, his brother Josh had a day out, with a game-high 34 disposals.
Jack Crisp got three votes, John Noble the two, and Nick Daicos the one. It was a game that raised the laughable question: did the vote go to the wrong Daicos?
Then there was Marcus Bontempelli. He was voted the AFLPA's MVP – recognition from his peers that he had the best season of any player.
But he finished only 14th in the Brownlow race, 26 points behind Cripps.
He was also snubbed of votes entirely despite a dominant performance in round two against the Suns and round eight against Hawthorn.
Against the Dogs, he had 32 touches and kicked two goals, and was awarded 10 coaches votes. Tom Leberatore won three votes with a 20-touch game and nine tackles, and Ryley Sanders' 22 touches earned him two votes.
Then against the Hawks, he had 26 touches, two goals, 142 fantasy points.
Legendary broadcaster Gerard Whateley said the voting system should be "recalibrated" and renewed his push for the AFL to grant the umpires access to the match stats before casting their votes.
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In an editorial on SEN, Whateley described the count as "an overdose in votes for the stars", and compared Cripps' 45 votes to Brian Lara's 501 not-out for Warwickshire in 1994 and Pride of Jenni's "demolition job" in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes earlier this year.
"They're numbers that would make your head explode. A wonder to behold if slightly perplexing," he said.
"Last year, we argued that the umpires simply must be allowed to see the stats post-game.
"Currently, we are asking them to sit the exam, blindfolded, and then ridiculing them when they get it wrong. We have all the information but we won't let the people who are tasked with casting the judgment see it. That's just ridiculous.
"Had we given the umpires access to the votes this season and this had been the result, we would have all concluded that all they did was regurgitate the numbers and vote for the stars. Well, that's where we are now anyway.
"It's time to give the umpires the best chance to cast votes to protect the prestige of the Brownlow."
