Sydney's Isaac Heeney is looking to keep his Brownlow hopes alive on Tuesday when the club heads to the Tribunal to appeal his one-match suspension for his off-the-ball incident with St Kilda's Jimmy Webster.
As the criteria states and has always since 1924, a player who is suspended during the home-and-away season will be ineligible to claim the most prestigious individual award in the AFL.
Heeney is currently living that fate.
In the game's long history, three players have missed out on the opportunity to claim 'Charlie': Corey McKernan (North Melbourne), who would've been a joint winner with James Hird in 1996; Chris Grant (Western Bulldogs) would have won outright the following season had he not been suspended, topping St Kilda's Robert Harvey by one vote; and Jobe Watson, who was stripped of the medal due to his involvement in the Essendon supplements saga.
However, times have changed and calls for the criteria to be amended have been sounded out by the AFL modernists within our society.
Ahead of his 200th AFL game, Carlton captain Patrick Cripps was an advocate for a review of the outdated criteria given how the laws and rules of the game have altered through time, creating cause for more suspensions.
“It's a tough question, it's obviously a rule that's been around since the start," Cripps said on Tuesday.
"I feel like with how not the rules have changed, but how we're protecting the head and little incidents, I feel like it's definitely a thing that needs to be reviewed at the end of the year.
“You'd hate to see someone like Isaac, if he did win (the count), miss out on the chance.
“He's had a great year, he's a great player and I feel like he plays the game the right way … that's all I'd say about that.”
Cripps nearly became the fourth player to miss out on the coveted individual honour in 2022, after miraculously being exonerated for a high bump on Brisbane's Callum Ah Chee that took multiple days to be solved.
The Blues skipper copped a two-game ban and subsequent ineligibility on the eve of the finals series.
Carlton managed to overturn the decision at the Appeals Board, which shocked all, despite initially failing at the Tribunal.
However, some don't see it the way Cripps does, including his fellow counterpart Melbourne captain Max Gawn.
Gawn, a "traditionalist" would be happy to see eligibility rules remain the same whilst also adding increased suspense if Heeney were at the pointy end on the AFL's night of nights.
“I think I'm a bit of a traditionalist with a lot of things – I like the idea of the best and fairest missing the Brownlow,” Gawn said, according to NewsCorp.
“That's over 25 years ago (McKernan and Grant winning the count), so it doesn't happen that often. I mean it will make an interesting Brownlow count.
“I do love Brownlow night, so if Heeney is up there winning, the room will be talking.”
AFL GM of Football Laura Kane also denied a change in the criteria of the Brownlow alike the Rising Star award, which will see both Harley Reid and Sam Darcy ineligible to win the honour due to suspension.
