The Brownlow Medal has always been a highlighted honour for some of the AFL's most decorated careers, with many of the game's greatest even going on to claim 'Charlie' on multiple occasions.
But how would the Brownlow Medal history books read if players were only able to win the esteemed honour just once?
With this exercise, we looked to limit each Brownlow medallist to one place atop the podium in their careers, seeing the next highest polling player claim the award should it be their first.
So should a player have won the Brownlow Medal a second time, that year's medal goes to whoever came second, or further if those in the chasing pack had already taken the award home before.
For example, Greg Williams won his second Brownlow in 1994 after first claiming the honour in 1986. Therefore, the next best polling player, Peter Matera, wins the 1994 Brownlow.
This opens up new winners to emerge and even future medallists to claim the competition's top gong several years prior to their actual illustrious campaigns.
The new order sees 26 players claim their first Brownlow Medal, including the likes of Graham Farmer, John Nicholls, Peter Hudson, Scott West and Joel Selwood.
If AFL players were could only win the Brownlow Medal once...
| Year | Winner |
Original Winner(s)
|
| 1924 |
Edward Greeves Jr.
|
|
| 1925 | Colin Watson | |
| 1926 |
Ivor Warne-Smith
|
|
| 1927 | Syd Coventry | |
| 1928 | Leo Dwyer, Jack Baggott, Charles Chapman |
Ivor Warne-Smith
|
| 1929 | Albert Collier | |
| 1930 |
Harry Collier, Allan Hopkins, Stan Judkins
|
|
| 1931 |
Haydn Bunton Sr.
|
|
| 1932 | George Moloney, Bill Faul |
Haydn Bunton Sr.
|
| 1933 |
William Smallhorn
|
|
| 1934 | Dick Reynolds | |
| 1935 | Keith Forbes |
Haydn Bunton Sr.
|
| 1936 | Denis Ryan | |
| 1937 | Herbie Matthews | Dick Reynolds |
| 1938 | Stan Spinks | Dick Reynolds |
| 1939 | Marcus Whelan | |
| 1940 | Des Fothergill |
Herbie Matthews, Des Fothergill
|
| 1941 | Norman Ware | |
| 1946 | Don Cordner | |
| 1947 | Bert Deacon | |
| 1948 | Bill Morris | |
| 1949 |
Col Austen, Ron Clegg
|
|
| 1950 | Allan Ruthven | |
| 1951 | Bernie Smith | |
| 1952 |
Roy Wright, Bill Hutchison
|
|
| 1953 | Bob Rose | Bill Hutchison |
| 1954 | Neil Mann | Roy Wright |
| 1955 | Fred Goldsmith | |
| 1956 | Peter Box | |
| 1957 | Brian Gleeson | |
| 1958 | Neil Roberts | |
| 1959 |
Verdun Howell, Bob Skilton
|
|
| 1960 | John Schultz | |
| 1961 | John James | |
| 1962 | Alistair Lord | |
| 1963 | Graham Farmer, Darrel Baldock | Bob Skilton |
| 1964 | Gordon Collis | |
| 1965 |
Noel Teasdale, Ian Stewart
|
|
| 1966 | John Nicholls | Ian Stewart |
| 1967 | Ross Smith | |
| 1968 | Denis Marshal | Bob Skilton |
| 1969 | Kevin Murray | |
| 1970 | Peter Bedford | |
| 1971 | Barry Davis, Peter Hudson, John McIntosh | Ian Stewart |
| 1972 | Len Thompson | |
| 1973 | Keith Greig | |
| 1974 | Gary Hardeman | Keith Greig |
| 1975 | Gary Dempsey | |
| 1976 | Graham Moss | |
| 1977 |
Graham Teasdale
|
|
| 1978 | Malcolm Blight | |
| 1979 | Peter Moore | |
| 1980 |
Kelvin Templeton
|
|
| 1981 |
Bernie Quinlan, Barry Round
|
|
| 1982 | Brian Wilson | |
| 1983 |
Ross Glendinning
|
|
| 1984 | David Cloke | Peter Moore |
| 1985 | Brad Hardie | |
| 1986 |
Robert DiPierdomenico, Greg Williams
|
|
| 1987 |
John Platten, Tony Lockett
|
|
| 1988 | Gerard Healy | |
| 1989 | Paul Couch | |
| 1990 | Tony Liberatore | |
| 1991 | Jim Stynes | |
| 1992 | Scott Wynd | |
| 1993 |
Gavin Wanganeen
|
|
| 1994 | Peter Matera | Greg Wiliams |
| 1995 | Paul Kelly | |
| 1996 | James Hird, Michael Voss"}" data-sheets-hyperlinkruns="{"1":0,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/coaches/james-hird/"}{"1":10}{"1":12,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/coaches/michael-voss/"}{"1":24}">
James Hird, Michael Voss
|
|
| 1997 | Robert Harvey | |
| 1998 | Nathan Buckley"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/coaches/nathan-buckley/"> | Robert Harvey |
| 1999 | Shane Crawford | |
| 2000 |
Shane Woewodin
|
|
| 2001 |
Jason Akermanis
|
|
| 2002 | Simon Black | |
| 2003 | Adam Goodes"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/adam-goodes/" data-sheets-hyperlinkruns="{"1":15,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/adam-goodes/"}{"1":26}">Adam Goodes |
Mark Ricciuto, Adam Goodes, Nathan Buckley
|
| 2004 | Chris Judd"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/chris-judd/"> | |
| 2005 | Ben Cousins | |
| 2006 | Scott West | |
| 2007 | Jimmy Bartel"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/jimmy-bartel/"> | |
| 2008 | Adam Cooney"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/adam-cooney/"> | |
| 2009 | Gary Ablett Jr."}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/gary-ablett/" data-sheets-hyperlinkruns="{"1":0,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/gary-ablett/"}{"1":11}"> Jr. | |
| 2010 | Dane Swan"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/dane-swan/"> | |
| 2011 | Nick Dal Santo"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/nick-dal-santo/"> | |
| 2012 | Sam Mitchell, Trent Cotchin"}" data-sheets-hyperlinkruns="{"1":0,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/sam-mitchell/"}{"1":12}{"1":14,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/trent-cotchin/"}{"1":27}">
Sam Mitchell, Trent Cotchin
|
|
| 2013 | Joel Selwood"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/joel-selwood/"> | Jr. |
| 2014 | Matt Priddis"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/matt-priddis/"> | |
| 2015 | Nat Fyfe"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/nathan-fyfe/"> | |
| 2016 | Patrick Dangerfield"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/patrick-dangerfield/"> | |
| 2017 | Dustin Martin"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/dustin-martin/"> | |
| 2018 | Tom Mitchell"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/tom-mitchell/"> | |
| 2019 | Patrick Cripps, Lachie Neale"}" data-sheets-hyperlinkruns="{"1":0,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/patrick-cripps/"}{"1":14}{"1":16,"2":"https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/lachie-neale/"}{"1":28}">Patrick Cripps, Lachie Neale | |
| 2020 | Travis Boak"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/travis-boak/"> | |
| 2021 | Ollie Wines"}" data-sheets-hyperlink="https://www.zerohanger.com/afl/players/oliver-wines/"> | |
| 2022 | Touk Miller | Patrick Cripps |
| 2023 | Marcus Bontempelli | Lachie Neale |
