Brownlow Medal 2023: Lachie Neale’s win tops footy’s glam slam

Lachie Neale has won his second Brownlow Medal in a thrilling vote count that went down to the final round of the AFL’s home and away season.

Lachie Neale of the Lions gives a speech after being awarded the 2023 Brownlow Medal.

Lachie Neale has won his second Brownlow Medal in a thrilling vote count that went down to the final round of the AFL’s home and away season.

The three-time All Australian player and co-captain of the Brisbane Lions is just the 16th player in history to be a dual medallist.

“The ultimate ball magnet” is how AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder described Neale as he presented him his second honour.

“It doesn’t sit very well at the moment. I’m pretty rattled. I didn’t not expect this,” Neale said from a quiet room in Brisbane.

He and his teammates enjoyed a subdued count ahead of Saturday’s grand final against Collingwood in Melbourne.

Neale and wife Julie pose for portraits after his win.

“To be in Brisbane preparing for a grand final is amazing. I haven’t been involved in this week in more than a decade,” he said.

Neale was previously at the Fremantle Dockers before transferring to the Lions. The last time he was involved in a grand final he was named as the substitute in 2013.

Runners-up included Pies young gun Nick Daicos, Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli and Sydney Swans star Errol Gulden.

As well as celebrating the best and fairest AFL player, the Brownlow is also now Australia’s best fashion runway show. An event that does more for local ­designers, stylists and models – many of whom are, admittedly, dating many of the shining stars of the AFL – than official fashion weeks.

With one of the strictest “black tie” dress codes in the country – where even working media must adhere to formal dress – another best-and-fairest award should also be handed out in the arrivals hall. Gone are the days of homemade dresses and make up applied in bathrooms at work; the Brownlow is big business for Melbourne and Australia’s fashion scene at large.

Swans player Chad Warner and Alice Hughes. Picture: Michael Klein

Nick Daicos and Arlette Jones arrive at the Brownlow. Picture: Graham Denholm

Design houses such as Jason Grech, Cappellazzo Couture and Oglialoro Couture have made their mark on the Brownlow red carpet over the years, thanks mainly in part to leading stylist Lana Wilkinson’s dressing the wives and girlfriends of the code’s best and brightest players in their one-off creations.

They have become go-to labels for red carpets events around the country, including the Logies.

It was hard to miss the Barbie influence on Monday night in Melbourne.

Hot pink column dresses and fitted gowns with more redactions than a government Freedom of Information request were sprinkled around Crown Melbourne’s lobby as far as the eye could see.

Jack Viney and wife Charlotte Viney. Picture: Graham Denholm

Collingwood’s fairytale run-up to the 2023 AFL grand final is looking to be more “fairy princess” with the amount of regal glamour on show from the Victorian club.

The favourite to take out “Charlie” (the Brownlow Medal) was 20-year-old Daicos – the prince of the Pies – who strolled into the event with the same charm and laid-back charisma as he does at the MCG on most weekends, something he’ll also do again this Saturday in front of a predicted 102,000 screaming fans.

His partner, Arlette Amor, looked like a Margot Robbie clone in a hot pink-and-coral twisted gown by Cappellazzo Couture.