Hugh McCluggage is set to top the Lions’ Brownlow Medal vote-count for the first time on Monday night as Lachie Neale and Dayne Zorko post significant personal Brownlow milestones.

Logan Morris, Darcy Wilmot and Jaspa Fletcher will poll in the medal for the first time, and Darcy Gardiner will add another coat of polish to his Brownlow badge of honour, having played most games for the club without a vote.

Or at least that’s the verdict of the AFL coaches via their weekly player of the year votes.

If you convert the 5-4-3-2-1 coaches votes into notional 3-2-1 Brownlow votes; call them ‘Coachlow’ votes – it points to a narrow medal win for the Gold Coast Suns’ Noah Anderson.

Anderson polls 27 ‘Coachlow’ votes to win from Geelong’s Bailey Smith (24.33), Adelaide’s Jordan Dawson (23.5), Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell and Port’s Zac Butters (23), Collingwood’s Nick Daicos (22.83), Western Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli (22.5), Melbourne’s Max Gawn (20.5), Fremantle’s Caleb Serong (20.33) and St.Kilda’s Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Bulldogs’ Ed Richards (20).

McCluggage is next on the Coachlow leaderboard with 19.5 votes, and #1 for the Lions from Neale (14), Josh Dunkley (11.5), Will Ashcroft and Zac Bailey (9.5), Harris Andrews (7.5), Morris (7), Zorko (4.5), Wilmot (4.5), Cam Rayner (3), Jarrod Berry (2.5), Fletcher (2), Ryan Lester and Cal Ah Chee (1.5) and Jack Payne (0.5).

The ‘Coachlow’ also points to a Brisbane win in the overall team count with 101 votes from Geelong and the Bulldogs (95), Collingwood (93), Adelaide (88), GWS (85), Gold Coast (84), Fremantle (82) and Hawthorn (79).

Anything like 19.5 votes would be a personal best for McCluggage, who polled 14 votes in 2022, 12 votes last year and 10 votes in 2021.

Neale’s injury problems will guarantee he’s not in the finish, but he could move from 10^th on the all-time vote list as high as 6^th. And even 5^th with something like his 14 ‘Coachlow’ votes.

The two-time Brownlow Medal winner has 209 career votes to sit behind West Coast/Carlton dual winner Chris Judd (210), Richmond winner Dustin Martin (213), Geelong captain Joel Selwood (214) and dual St.Kilda winner Robert Harvey (215).

Ahead of them are ex-Footscray/North Melbourne ruckman Gary Dempsey (218.5), Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury (223), Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell (227), Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield (251) and Geelong/Gold Coast winner Gary Ablett Jnr (262).

Dempsey’s half-vote total is because totals in 1976-77, when two umpires awarded 3-2-1 votes separately, are halved for comparison purposes.

Zorko needs three Brownlow votes in the count on Monday night to become the fifth Brisbane player to reach 100 career votes.

His career total of 97 sits behind that of Simon Black (184), Michael Voss (150), Neale (146) and Jonathan Brown (112), and ahead of Nigel Lappin (93), Jason Akermanis (91), Luke Power (83), Tom Rockliff (68) and Jarryd Lyons (52).

McCluggage, with 49 career votes, will break the 50-mark to go into the top 10 all-time.

The ‘Coachlow’ votes suggest the silky-skilled first-time All-Australian will figure in the Brownlow votes eight times in Rounds 3-4-5-11-12-17-21-24, with Neale tipped to poll five times in the first half of the year in Rounds 2-4-7-8-11, and Dunkley will figure in Round 1-8-18-19-23-24.

If Zorko is to reach 100 career votes the ‘Coachlow’ suggests they’ll come in Rounds 2-7-9.

If Wilmot is to break through for his first votes the ‘Coachlow’ suggests it will happen in Round 7 or 18, and if not then, definitely in Round 24. Fletcher’s big hope is Round 23, and Morris could poll in Round 5 and should poll in Rounds 14-15-21.

At the other end of the scale, Gardiner, now up to 182 games is closing in on the all-teams record set this year by Hawthorn premiership player turned retiring Western Bulldogs defender Taylor Duryea at 219.

Only six players in AFL history have played 200 games without a vote – Duryea, Sydney’s Harry Cunningham (219) and Nick Smith (211), Geelong’s Tom Lonergan (209), Hawthorn’s Ben Stratton (202) and Western Bulldogs/Collingwood defender Jordan Roughead (201)

BRISBANE IN THE BROWNLOW – TEN THINGS TO KNOW

Top 10 Finishes

Most Brisbane Votes in a Season (Aggregate)

Lachie Neale holds the Brisbane record for most Brownlow votes in a season at 31. And he’s done it twice -  in the 17-game Covid season of 2020, and in 2023. And he has the top four, also polling 28 votes in 2022 and 26 votes in 2019.

31 – Lachie Neale (2020)
31 – Lachie Neale (2023)
28 – Lachie Neale (2022)
26 – Lachie Neale (2019)
25 – Simon Black (2002)
23 – Jason Akermanis (2001)
23 – Simon Black (2008)
23 – Jarryd Lyons (2023)
22 – Simon Black (2007)
22 – Lachie Neale (2024)
21 – Michael Voss (1996)
21 – Tom Rockliff (2013)

# denotes medal winner

Most Brisbane Votes in a Season (Average)

Fourteen times a Brisbane player has averaged a vote per game over a season, headed by Lachie Neale’s 1.82vpg when he won the medal in the 17-game Covid season of 2020. He has four of the top five, split only by Jonathan Brown’s 1.3vpg in an injury-played 2006 season when he played only 10 games.

1.82 – Lachie Neale (2020)
1.35 – Lachie Neale (2023)
1.30 – Jonathan Brown (2016)
1.27 – Lachie Neale (2022)
1.18 – Lachie Neale (2019)
1.14 – Simon Black (2002)
1.10 – Jason Akermanis (2001)
1.10 – Simon Black (2008)
1.05 – Simon Black (2007)
1.05 – Jarryd Lyons (2021)
1.00 – Tom Rockliff (2013)
1.00 – Lachie Neale (2024)

Top 10 Finishes – Brisbane

Michael Voss, Brisbane’s first Brownlow Medallist in 1996, also has most top 10 finishes in the game’s No.1 individual award, while Lachie Neale is the club’s only multiple winner and has most top three finishes.

In 2002 the club had its best team result when Simon Black won, Michael Voss was equal 3^rd, and Des Headland equal 6^th. Brisbane top 10 finishes have been:

5 – Michael Voss - 1^st 1996, T3rd 2001-02, T7th 2000-03
4 – Simon Black - 1^st 2002, 2^nd 2008, T2nd 2007, 6^th 2004
4 – Lachie Neale – 1^st 2020-23, 2^nd 2022, T3rd 2019
2 – Jonathan Brown – 10^th 2007, T10th 2006
2 – Dayne Beams – T8th 2018, 10^th 2017
1 – Roger Merrett – T7th 1989
1 – David Bain – T4th 1990
1 – Michael McLean – T6 1991
1 – Nathan Buckley – T6th 1993
1 – Jason Akermanis – 1^st 2001
1 – Des Headland – T6th 2002
1 – Luke Power – T7th 2004
1 – Tom Rockliff – T6th 2013
1 – Dayne Zorko – 10^th – 2019

Most Total Votes for Brisbane (50+)

Simon Black is 17^th overall Brownlow Medal votes, and Michael Voss is 33^rd. Lachie Neale is 10^th overall, including his 63 votes with Fremantle.

184 – Simon Black
150 – Michael Voss
146 – Lachie Neale
112 – Jonathan Brown
97 – Dayne Zorko
93 – Nigel Lappin
91 – Jason Akermanis
83 – Luke Power
68 – Tom Rockliff
62 – Dayne Beams
52 – Jarryd Lyons

Brisbane Leading Voter-Getter (Most Years)

6 – Simon Black (2002-04-07-08-09-11)
5 – Michael Voss (1995-96-98-2000-03)
5 – Tom Rockliff (2011-12-13-14-16)
5 – Lachie Neale (2019-20-22-23-24)
3 – Jonathan Brown (2006-09-10)
3 – Dayne Beams (2015-17-18)
2 – Geoff Raines (1987-88)
2 – David Bain (1990-92)
2 – Jason Akermanis (1999-2001)
1 – Roger Merrett (1989)
1 – Michael McLean (1991)
1 – Martin Leslie (1992)
1 – Darryl White (1992)
1 – Nathan Buckley (1993)
1 – Craig Lambert (1994)
1 – Nigel Lappin (1997)
1 – Luke Power (2005)
1 – Daniel Rich (2012)
1 – Jarryd Lyons (2021)

Most Games Polled for Brisbane

82 – Simon Black
72 – Michael Voss
61 – Lachie Neale
52 – Jonathan Brown
45 – Nigel Lappin
42 – Luke Power
41 – Jason Akermanis
32 – Tom Rockliff
27 – Hugh McCluggage
24 – Jarrod Lyons

Most 3-Vote Ratings for Brisbane

38 – Simon Black
37 – Lachie Neale
26 – Michael Voss
23 – Jonathan Brown
19 – Jason Akermanis
17 – Nigel Lappin
15 - Luke Power
14 – Dayne Zorko
12 – Tom Rockliff
10 – Jarryd Lyons

Most Brisbane Games – No Votes

181 – Darcy Gardiner
130 – Brandon Starcevich
122 – Callum Ah Chee
100 – Cheynee Stiller
94 – James Polkinghorne
88 – Noah Answerth
81 – Darcy Wilmot
81 – Ryan Harwood
81 – Josh Green
81 – Jack Payne

Consecutive Brisbane Games Polled

6 – Des Headland (2002) – 3-1-1-3-2-3
6 – Lachie Neale (2023) – 2-1-1-3-3-2
5 – Michael Voss (2002) – 2-2-2-3-2
5 – Simon Black (2008) – 3-3-1-2-3
5 – Tom Rockliff (2013) – 3-3-2-3-2
5 – Lachie Neale (2020) – 3-3-1-3-3-

Most Brisbane Votes in a Year (Team)

102 – 2004
100 – 2002
99 – 2001
96 – 1999
92 – 2003, 2023
90 – 2019

Most Brisbane Players Polled in a Year

19 – 1999
16 – 1997, 2003, 2007
15 – 1992, 1994, 2001, 2004, 2009