Inaccuracies Plague The Brownlow Medal Count | Thebigtip

It seems that there is an elephant in the room after the 2011 Brownlow Medal presentation.

Another Brownlow Medal count has come and gone, and for yet another season, we have seen the umpires' votes throw up an interesting winner.

Before I get too far into divulging why I feel this way, I firstly want to say congratulations to Dane Swan for winning the 2011 Brownlow Medal. Swan is a champion of the game that has been a major reason why the Magpies are where they are today, and certainly deserved to have his named written in the Brownlow records - last year.

Cast your minds back to Brownlow night in 2010; Dane Swan was the strong favourite heading into the night, having already taken out the AFLPA's MVP Award (Leigh Matthews Trophy). Once the count had finished, Swan (24 votes) finished the night in third place behind Chris Judd (Brownlow Medalist with 30 votes) and Gary Ablett (second place with 26 votes).

Twelve months roll over and Chris Judd had emerged as the Brownlow Medal favourite early in the year, holding that title right up until the count itself. In the same position as Dane Swan one year before, Judd was named the AFLPA's MVP, but in a role reversal, it was Swan that won the medal with a record-breaking 34 votes and Chris Judd with 23 votes in fifth place (Sam Mitchell, who was ineligible, was the next highest with 30).

Watching the Brownlow count on Monday night only made me frustrated at the system when Swan surged over the line to claim Charlie. It really makes you think whether going by the umpires' votes is the correct way of finding the most deserving winner.

The last two years aren't the only occasions where the system has been frowned upon. The first two that come to mind in the past ten years are Shane Woewodin's surprise win in 2000 and Adam Cooney shocking the competition by snapping up the medal in 2008.

As it stands, I see the AFLPA MVP Award to be more of an accurate accolade. The likes of Michael Voss, Nick Riewoldt, Ben Cousins, Chris Judd, Gary Ablett and Dane Swan have each taken out the prize in recent seasons passed, and in years that correspond with their bests, too.

The Brownlow Medal seems to be a lucky dip for anyone that had a decent and above season. Something needs to be done so that the best player from each year is presented the medal for being the season's best and fairest. The big question now is 'what can be done?'