The 2026 Brownlow Medal was the 99th year in which the award was presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. The count took place on Monday 21 September in Melbourne at the Crown Palladium, five days before the grand final. Nick Daicos of won the medal with 47 votes
Reactions Daicos won the medal with 47 votes, polling the highest voting score of all time under the 3-2-1 system. This beat 2024 winner Patrick Cripps by two votes. Daicos had been the outright favourite to win the award for the majority of the season, in which he averaged just under 35 disposals per game and kicked 26 goals.https://afltables.com/afl/stats/2026.html#4
Sydney Swans
Four days before Round 24, five Sydney players were suspended by the club for the remainder of the season, for breaching club rules and standards the night after a Round 23 match against Essendon. One of these players was Isaac Heeney, a favourite to win the award. The AFL ruled that since it was a club suspension, they would still be eligible to win the medal, though due to the ongoing police investigation against them, the four did not attend the ceremony. The Sydney Swans CEO Matthew Pavlich had been set to deliver a speech written by Heeney, if he had won the award.
Other awards The 2026 Goal of the Year was awarded to Conor McKenna from the for his goal in the clubs round 24 win against . McKenna beat runner up Bailey Williams from the in his goal in their opening round game against the .
The 2026 Mark of the Year was awarded to Nick Watson from in the Hawks round 24 win against . Watson beat runners up Kysaiah Pickett and Shai Bolton.
The Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award was awarded to 's Bailey Banfield.
Records broken On the night, multiple records were broken including: Nick Daicos received the highest number of votes in a single season. Nick Daicos polled Best on Ground, six consecutive times between Rounds 15 and 20, surpassing five players who were best on ground five times in a row, with the most recent player being 2025 winner Matt Rowell across late 2024 and early 2025. Daicos' winning margin of 11 votes was the equal biggest winning margin in Brownlow history. captain Marcus Bontempelli claimed the record of most votes in Brownlow history without winning the medal. captain Patrick Dangerfield tied former teammate Gary Ablett Jr. for the most votes in Brownlow history with 262. 's Harry Sheezel achieved the most votes by a North Melbourne player in 43 years, since Ross Glendinning won in 1983 captain Max Gawn reached 150 career Brownlow votes, overtaking Robert Flower to become Melbourne's all time leading vote getter.
Leading vote-getters Overall Rank Player Club Votes 1st 47 2nd 36 3rd 34 4th 28 =5th 27 =8th 26 10th 25
Most votes per club Club rank Overall rank Player Club Votes 1st 1st 47 2nd 2nd 36 3rd 3rd 34 4th 4th 28 =5th =5th 27 =8th =8th 26 10th 10th 25 11th 11th 23 =12th =13th 21 14th =18th 19 15th =23rd 15 16th =38th 10 17th =45th 9 18th* =62nd 6 Harley Reid polled the most votes for with 15, however he was inelgible for the award due to suspension.
Voting procedure and eligibility The four 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 they are read and tallied on the evening.
Any suspension throughout the home-and-away season renders a player ineligible to win the award. However, umpires must still award votes to any player they deem worthy, and all votes are tallied regardless of ineligibility.
In the event of an ineligible player receiving the most votes, the next eligible player is awarded the Brownlow Medal.
There is no countback if there is a tie on votes, with joint winners awarded.
Starting from 2026, umpires were given access to match statistics to help inform their voting
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