Former umpire lifts lid on bizarre Brownlow Medal votes at the 2023 count

Under strict integrity rules umpires were ‘going in blind’ when deciding their Brownlow votes this year without their phones. Does the rule need to change? HAVE YOUR SAY

Lachie Neale took home the 2023 Brownlow Medal in a thrilling count. Picture: Getty Images

A former AFL umpire has claimed the 2023 Brownlow Medal was the first voted on with “full integrity compliance in recent history” after the league clamped down on umpires breaking protocols to access match statistics.

Winner Lachie Neale’s three-vote performance for registering seven kicks and 13 handballs on a day where Charlie Cameron booted seven goals and Josh Kelly (41 disposals) and Stephen Coniglio (38) dominated has sparked debate over whether umpires should be provided with match statistics when casting votes.

In January the Herald Sun reported suspicions that umpires had been flouting protocols to access statistics on their mobile phones because they were frightened of backlash from punters for getting votes wrong.

It is understood the AFL then clamped down on protocols, including umpires accessing their phones.

A former umpire on Tuesday said the inconsistent polling in Monday’s count was a result of the AFL’s crackdown.

“There were only a handful of games in the past that would have been done without using stats or phones,” he said.

Lachie Neale took home the 2023 Brownlow Medal in a thrilling count. Picture: Getty Images

“The emergency ump used to sit in front of Champion Data on the bench and look at their laptop. But with four umpires on the field for the first time this year there’s no emergency umpire anymore.

“But in the past if we were still unsure then someone would look at their phone. It was either done openly, in the bathroom or sneakily in bags depending on who you were with.

“But with what’s gone on, they’re obviously handing their phones in now and the AFL are a lot stricter – and this is the consequence.

“They don’t have access to stats and are going in blind. The 2023 Brownlow would be the first in recent history that was done with full integrity compliance.”

Neale’s three-vote game in round 6 was one of several that raised eyebrows.

Mattaes Phillipou (five kicks, no goals) was awarded one vote in the same round while Jason Horne-Francis was given three votes for 13 disposals and no goals in round 14.

The AFL’s clampdown this year also came on the back of Michael Pell’s arrest last year for allegedly leaking Brownlow Medal votes.

No charges have been laid.

The AFL was urged to provide umpires with statistics by former greats on Tuesday.

“It is incredibly difficult for anyone, including coaches and commentators, to be 100 per cent accurate without using them as a guide,” St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna told the Herald Sun.

Umpires did not have access to stats before handing in their votes. Picture: Getty Images

“The umpires do an amazing job to be as accurate as they are, considering they are the only people who vote on an award without access to stats.

“The umpires had the exact same top six players as the coaches, but in a slightly different order and with a different voting system.

“That’s pretty incredible considering the coaches have the luxury of 48 hours and access to replays and stats before casting their votes.”

Converting the AFL coaches’ votes into the Brownlow’s 3-2-1 format would’ve seen Marcus Bontempelli win the medal.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan conceded giving umpires statistics was “a fair question” – but emphatically backed them to continue voting on football’s highest individual honour.

“Should you give them some baseline to work with? That could be debated, but that will be for others,” McLachlan said on SEN.

AFL protocols state that umpires must hand their mobile phones to the umpire trainer upon arrival at venues and cannot retrieve them until after votes have been submitted.

“Under no circumstance should any electronic device be used to gather information for the allocation of Brownlow Medal votes – and match statistics are not available / provided,” league protocols state.