‘Awkward’ Brownlow possibility AFL is ‘refusing to acknowledge’
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The AFL and Brownlow Medal host broadcaster Channel Seven currently have no plan in place for the awkward possibility of Sydney star Isaac Heeney winning the league’s top award while under an active police investigation, according to Nine’s Sam McClure.
Heeney, along with teammates Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice, were suspended for the remainder of the 2026 season for breaching club standards following a night of partying in Melbourne after their round 23 game.
Isaac Heeney on Brownlow Medal night. Getty
Four of them remain under police investigation after three women made allegations of sexual assault at the Pullman Hotel during that night. Bice has been cleared by police.
Nine.com.au is not suggesting any of the players have committed a criminal offence, and no charges have been laid.
The five suspended players were not invited to this year’s Brownlow Medal, but remain eligible to win the award and poll votes, the AFL confirmed last month.
Collingwood star Nick Daicos is seen as the clear frontrunner to win the Brownlow Medal, while Heeney is expected to poll well given he starred consistently for a team that finished second on the ladder.
McClure believes the AFL, privately, will be hoping Daicos runs away with the award and removes Heeney from the equation early in the count on Monday night.
He also says the AFL will want Sydney to advance to the grand final, as that would mean the team itself doesn’t attend the ceremony, given they will likely remain in Sydney preparing for the match.
“It is going to be awkward, it just depends on what level it is,” McClure told Nine’s Footy Classified.
"And the AFL and Channel Seven over the course of the weekend are refusing to at least acknowledge the possibility, and what they will do, if Isaac Heeney wins the Brownlow Medal.
"A lot of people will be thinking Nick Daicos is the unbackable favourite to win it. Just consider for a moment that when the home-and-away season ended, Champion Data had Isaac Heeney … as the best player in the competition.
"Consider again that this is the first time, after what has happened in the last few Brownlows, that umpires are actually allowed to look at statistics.
"We have a scenario behind the scenes where the AFL will be actively barracking for Daicos behind the scenes to avoid any awkwardness.
Isaac Heeney and Chad Warner are expected to poll votes. nna\anna.pavlou
"They won't admit this, but they will also be barracking for Sydney to beat Fremantle in the upcoming prelim because if they do that, they avoid an awkward scenario where we have a table full of Swans in the room at Crown."
Even if Heeney doesn't win the award, it's entirely likely that he, Warner and Blakey will poll consistently throughout the night, meaning AFL boss Andrew Dillon will be reading their names out over and over.
“The AFL, through the Brownlow prediction tools that they use, believe those three players will poll upwards of 50 votes (between them),” McClure said.
"This is going to be an incredibly delicate situation for the AFL and its host broadcaster to navigate, given those three are still the subject of an ongoing police investigation.
"That's a lot of time dedicated to these three names being read out."
The AFL, at least as far as the public knows, remains unaware of who has won the Brownlow and what the votes look like until they are delivered under lock and key by Armaguard on the night itself.
Nine reporter Damian Barrett says it’s not impossible for them to get a hold of the votes early, to see if Heeney has in fact won.
"They constantly tell us they don't know the votes until they are formally presented them about an hour before the count starts and the broadcast takes place," Barrett said.
"I'm prepared to believe them at that, but if they wanted to know the result of the Brownlow now, they could."
The Brownlow Medal will be held on Monday in the lead-up to the grand final, with many expecting Daicos to win comfortably.
However, he has entered favourite to win the last two medals and has ultimately finished second to surprise star midfielders polling well above expectation, in Patrick Cripps and Matt Rowell.
