Nick Daicos stands alone with the most AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Award votes in a single season, of all time.
With another 10 added to his 2026 ledger, courtesy of his starring role in Collingwood's shock comeback win over the fancied Crows, the 23-year-old superstar usurped Dustin Martin's 2017 season total of 122.
His 39 disposals and one goal were influential in turning the tide, and his side have six consecutive wins following the stirring fightback.
Daicos sits on 125 coaches' votes, with four home and away games still to be played.
The race for the award is down to two men, with Marcus Bontempelli 19 votes back on 106 - 30 votes clear of Fremantle's unicorn, Luke Jackson, who sits third.
Bontempelli garnered another eight votes of his own for his role in the Dogs' victory over the lowly Tigers, with midfield colleague Ed Richards yielding the maximum of 10.
Cat Patrick Dangerfield has spots three and four on the all-time ladder sewn up, after he collected 121 and 118 in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Daicos' 2024 count of 117 is enough for fifth all time, but is in danger of being usurped by Bontempelli in the season's late stages.
The Collingwood champion's final four games, and final four opportunities to make his record all the more unbreakable, come in the form of rendezvous with Geelong, West Coast, Hawthorn and Brisbane.
With another 10 against the Crows, Nick Daicos has broken Dustin Martin's record for coaches' votes in a single season 👏 pic.twitter.com/BsM53lde8H
— AFL (@AFL) July 27, 2026
More importantly to the little maestro, these games will shape his club's chances come September, with the Pies' list of older bodies certainly in need of the week off that a top six finish would provide. Collingwood are currently entrenched in the Wildcard places, and will be looking to jostle their way to relative safety across their final four matches.
