Brownlow Medal voting: AFL rules out letting umpires access stats post-match

After a record number of votes for first and second place in the 2025 Brownlow count - who left Marcus Bontempelli in the dust - the AFL has ruled out a crucial change to the way umpires vote.

THE AFL has ruled out allowing its umpires access to any player statistics before voting on the Brownlow Medal as Patrick Cripps basks in the glory of his astonishing 45-vote tally.

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon had pledged to review aspects of the Brownlow Medal voting even as he backed the AFL’s umpires as the proper body to award votes.

But the league told the Herald Sun on Monday it would make no changes to its rules and regulations ahead of 2025 voting.

Cripps smashed the previous highest vote tally as he streeted the field ahead of Nick Daicos (38 votes), with some senior umpires having asked the AFL to be able to use Champion Data stats.

Those umpires believed they were sitting ducks not only in awarding the best winner but also being ridiculed when umpires came up with left-field voting patterns for games across the year.

Patrick Cripps with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon after winning the 2024 Brownlow Medal. Picture: Michael Klein

Cripps finished ahead of AFL MVP Marcus Bontempelli by 26 votes and was awarded two votes for a 19-possession game where he kicked at 13 per cent efficiency.

Daicos polled a vote for a 15-possession game where Champion Data ranked him 16th-best on ground, while in round 8 Melbourne’s Harrison Petty secured three Brownlow votes for a modest one-goal, 13 possession game.

The AFL has worked through its 2025 Brownlow Medal voting protocols and retains confidence in the umpires to make a call without any official stats.

It would be aware umpires can look at the scoreboards around the ground late in matches to look at player statistics to form a rough guide.

Umpiring sources said the integrity crackdown after the Michael Pell Brownlow saga meant umpires who often quickly accessed stats on their phone post-match now no longer took that risk.

Nick Daicos alongside brother Josh at the 2024 Brownlow Medal. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

The new four umpire system also means an emergency umpire who got a better guide of who was dominant is now in the action from the first bounce.

Dillon said after Cripps’ beat the previous record of 36 votes he would always back in umpires to vote on the Brownlow Medal after 100 year of history.

“We trust our umpires implicitly. They are professional, elite athletes (and) incredible decision-makers,” Dillon said.

“In relation to the stats, it’s something that we look at at the end of each year.

“We spoke to the umpiring group at the end of last season and the consensus from the umpires was that they were comfortable making the calls on the 3-2-1 without access to statistics. Again, at the end of the year we’ll review all the rules and regulations.”

Daicos is the $6 favourite to win this year’s Brownlow Medal ahead of Cripps ($10), Bontempelli ($13) and $18 contenders Isaac Heeney and Tom Green.

Originally published as Brownlow Medal voting: AFL rules out letting umpires access stats post-match