2016 Brownlow Medal


The 2016 Brownlow Medal was the 89th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League home and away season. Patrick Dangerfield of the Geelong Football Club won the medal by polling thirty-five votes during the 2016 AFL season, at the time the most by any player under the 3-2-1 voting system, beating the previous record of 34 votes set by Dane Swan in 2011.

Leading votegetters


PlayerVotes
1stPatrick Dangerfield 35
2ndLuke Parker 26
3rdDustin Martin 25
Rory Sloane *24
=4thAndrew Gaff 21
=4thDan Hannebery 21
=4thAdam Treloar 21
=7thMarcus Bontempelli 20
=7thLachie Neale 20
=9thRobbie Gray 19
=9thZach Merrett 19
=9thNick Riewoldt 19

* The player was ineligible to win the medal due to suspension by the AFL Tribunal during the year.

Voting procedure

The three field 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.
A change was made in 2015 to the rules under which players could become ineligible for the Brownlow Medal. Under previous rules, players were ineligible if found guilty at the AFL Tribunal of an offence with a base penalty equal to or greater than a one-match suspension, even if the player then avoided suspension by taking an early guilty plea after the Match Review Panel's findings. Under the rules: