Port Adelaide’s Ollie Wines wins record-breaking Brownlow Medal

After a thrilling finish to the vote count, the winner of this year’s Brownlow Medal has been crowned on a history-making night.

Port Adelaide’s Ollie Wines has won this year’s Brownlow Medal after a thrilling vote count that made history.

The gun midfielder finished on 36 votes, three ahead of Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli, to claim the AFL’s highest individual honour.

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Wines became the first Port Adelaide player to win the prestigious award and claimed the most votes by a Brownlow medallist, equalling the tally set by Richmond star Dustin Martin in 2017.

It was an enthralling vote count in which the winner wasn’t decided until the final round.

Wines polled two votes in Port Adelaide’s round 23 clash with the Western Bulldogs, which was enough for him to pull away from Bontempelli.

In a sign of the quality of the frontrunners, the 2021 Brownlow was the first time in the history of the award three players have polled more than 30 votes, with Bontempelli (33) and Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver (31) also achieving the remarkable feat.

Ollie Wines won a history-making Brownlow medal. Photo by Michael Klein

Wines was a narrow favourite to take out the Brownlow going in to the count and was among the top few players on the leaderboard for the entire night.

As expected, he faced stiff competition from Bontempelli and Oliver, who were both rated genuine chances to take home “Charlie”.

Wines polled in 16 games to break the record for the most matches a player has won votes in, and also polled in 11 out of the last 12 rounds.

This year’s Brownlow race was one of the closest in recent memory and went down to the wire.

With four rounds to go, Bontempelli led with 33 votes, just one ahead of Wines.

But his form tapered off in the final rounds of the season, allowing Wines to surge ahead and claim the medal.

Wines broke with AFL tradition when going up to the stage to receive his Brownlow medal.

“I better have a drink,” Wines was heard saying as he prepared to deliver his acceptance speech.

The winner is customarily handed a glass of champagne as the room stands to toast the player judged the best in the competition.

Wines opted for beer instead of champagne for the traditional toast. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

But Wines instead opted to sip from a glass of beer, much to the delight of viewers.

“Love that Ollie was offered the finest champagne Perth can offer, but still chose a pot,” sport producer Tim Hodges tweeted.

Wines cheers with .... beers#BrownlowMedalpic.twitter.com/BMpyPwdkV0

— QUENTIN HULL (@QuentinHull) September 19, 2021

When asked about his record-breaking achievement, Wines responded: “I’m not too sure about the numbers, I don’t look at the numbers a lot but 36 sounds like a lot so I’m happy with it.”

The 26-year-old graciously said he couldn’t have won the medal without the support of Port Adelaide, adding he was jealous he wouldn’t be playing in this weekend’s grand final.

“I’m a little bit rattled to be honest,” Wines said. “There’s so many great players that I still look up to at my age.

“They’ve had tremendous seasons and a lot of are playing on Saturday in the biggest game of the year and I’m extremely envious of them.

“I’d love to be in their position but it wasn’t to be this year. I know we’ll rebound and go again next year.

“This is a football club award. It doesn’t take an individual it takes a team, a football department, admin staff, everyone to get someone to this point.”

It was a nervous night for Ollie Wines. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The surprise of the night was Carlton young gun Sam Walsh, who polled consistently throughout the season to finish fourth on 30 votes — an incredible effort for a player in just their third season.

Brownlow Medal final leaderboard

1st: Ollie Wines (36)

2nd: Marcus Bontempelli (33)

3rd: Clayton Oliver (31)

4th: Sam Walsh (30)

5th: Darcy Parish (26)

5th: Jack Steele (26)

7th: Travis Boak (25)

7th: Tom Mitchell (25)

9th Jarryd Lyons (23)

9th: Christian Petracca 23)

Earlier in the night, Richmond’s Shai Bolton won the Mark of the Year award for his huge specky in the goalsquare in round eight.

Fremantle young gun Caleb Serong won the AFL’s Goal of the Year for his spectacular snap that helped seal the Dockers’ win over West Coast late in the season.