It’s long been said that the Brownlow Medal is primarily a midfielder's award, and certainly not an award for defenders. And this year’s count hardly disproves it.
Of 44 players in double-figures on the leaderboard on Monday night there were 39 midfielders, three ruckmen and two key forwards. Not one defender.
And if you want further proof on a home front, just ask Bodhi Uwland. He’s got an entirely compelling justification.
On Saturday night Uwland made Gold Coast SUNS history when he became the first graduate from the club’s Academy to win the best and fairest. A popular and well-received recognition of an excellent season.
He also won the David Swallow (Players’ Player) Award, and the Jarrod Harbrow Community Award.
Yet on Monday night Uwland polled just one vote in the Brownlow Medal. The first of his career, which came in the 68-point Round 2 MCG win over Richmond.
Mac Andrew, third in the B&F, did not poll at all despite five games in which he received the maximum five votes in the club award, four in wins.
For the enquiring minds, of the top 44 players in the Brownlow count ruckmen Max Gawn, Luke Jackson and Brodie Grundy finished 4th, 18th and 22nd in the vote count, and key forwards Charlie Curnow and Jacob Van Rooyen were 38th and 39th.
It’s all part of the reason why, despite all the glitz and glamour of the Brownlow and the notoriety that comes with it, most AFL players acknowledge that club best and fairest awards are a much better representation of performance.
Simply, Uwland deserved better recognition after a season in which he won selection in the 46-man All-Australian squad and was so good that he was picked by an ex-Port Adelaide coach turned media commentator in the back pocket in his All-Australian side.
Certainly, it was a wonderful bounce-back after he’d missed the top 10 in 2025 after he finished runner-up to Sam Collins in his first full season in 2024.
So, what if we staged a fictitious 2024-26 B&F count combined and excluded 2025?
Imagine we’re back at The Star Gold Coast, dressed for the occasion and enjoying the festivities after we’ve done the last of the votes of this year. So 46 games in total.
Starting from the bottom of the leaderboard, Ben King (54 votes) would edge out Bailey Humphrey (50) for 10th place. Wil Powell and Ben Long (70) would tie for 8th just behind Jarrod Witts (71).
Mac Andrew (99) would be sixth behind Matt Rowell (105).
The top four would be separated by just four votes … it’s tense.
In fourth place in the 2024-26 SUNS B&F on 110 votes … Touk Miller.
And in third place on 111 votes … Noah Anderson.
It’s down to the 2024 B&F Sam Collins and the 2026 winner Uwland. Only one vote between them. A hush falls over the room. And the winner is… Sam Collins.
It’s not quite the finish you might have expected, given that this is essentially a story about Uwland, but it’s an excellent reflection on how far Uwland has come in the last three years.
Drafted as a rookie in November 2021, he’d spent most of the 2022 season in a back brace recovering from a stress fracture which sent him sliding down the draft order. At the end of the 2023 season he was a 20-year-old three-gamer.
In 2023 Uwland played Rounds 1-2 before going back to the VFL. He was recalled as the starting substitute in Round 12, when he played 13% game time for one ‘clanger’ and one free kick in his first win, a 25-point triumph over Adelaide in Darwin. He was dropped the following week.
His solace was the SUNS' 2023 VFL premiership, which he shared with current teammates Joel Jeffrey, Ned Moyle, Leo Lombard, Alex Davies and Jy Farrar, and ex-SUNS AFL players Alex Sexton, Sam Day, Mabior Chol, Caleb Graham, Hewago Oea, Jeremy Sharp, Chris Burgess, Charlie Constable, Elijah Hollands and Lloyd Johnston.
Plus Campbell Lake, who is now at St Kilda, and Sandy Brock, now at West Coast.
Going into the 2024 season expectations on Uwland were minimal, but how wrong they were!
He has played 69 of a possible 71 games since then, including a ‘live’ consecutive streak of 63 after two games in the VFL in Rounds 7-8 of 2024, and was a thoroughly deserving B&F winner this year.
In the vote count Uwland was equal sixth at Round 1, equal third at Round 2, and, after a Round 3 bye, was the outright leader at Round 5.
Thereafter, he sat third from Rounds 6-9, second from Rounds 10-21, and finished with 5-1-3 votes against GWS, Brisbane and St Kilda in Rounds 22, 23 and 24 to claim the No.1 prize.
He polled 57 votes to win from Collins (54), Andrew (50), Lombard (45), Anderson and Miller (40), Noble (37), Rowell and Moyle (33), Petracca, Long and Humphrey (30).
He polled the maximum five votes a club-high six times, with seven three-voters, six one-voters and four games in which he did not poll a vote.
In 23 games, he polled three or more votes 13 times at 56.5% – a team-high from Mac Andrew (52.2%), Leo Lombard (47.8%), Sam Collins (47.6%), Noah Anderson (45.5%), Matt Rowell (44.4%) and Ned Moyle (43.8%).
His zero-vote percentage was 17.4%, behind only Collins (9.5%), equal to Lombard and ahead of Moyle (18.8%).
SUNS football boss Craig Cameron said of Uwland: “Just a fantastic year, his best year without a doubt. He played as a midfielder as a kid but he’s made the transition to defence exceptionally well,” he said.
“He can play on talls and smalls, can play high and deep, and his lateral movement is very good. He’s super-reliable and was super consistent which was good because the ball was down back a fair bit,” he said.
“He’s a thumping kick. His 55m kick is probably his best but we’re pretty happy with the ball in his hands. And above all, he’s an outstanding human.”
Using the last game of the season as a benchmark date, at 23 years 236 days Uwland is the fourth-youngest SUNS B&F winner behind David Swallow in 2014 (21 years, 285 days), Noah Anderson in 2023 (22 years, 190 days) and Tom Lynch in 2013 (22 years, 309 days).
The oldest is Gary Ablett Jnr at 33 years 98 days in 2017.
With just 72 games behind him, only Collins in 2020, who was at 40 games, has played fewer games. Swallow (73), Lynch (80) and Anderson (81) also won before they’d reached 100 games, while Ablett’s 302 games in 2017 is by far the most.
His first 30-possession game came in Round 10 against Port Adelaide in Darwin, when he had 31 touches to go with his second career goal, and had 20-plus possessions in 19 of 23 games.
And although it delivered a six-point loss, the Round 17 home game against Collingwood will be remembered fondly by the family.
Bodhi polled five votes to share top spot on the SUNS list with Ned Moyle, and Zeke Uwland polled three votes to rank next best with Ben Long, Bailey Humphrey and Beau Addinsall. And, curiously, Zeke polled his first Brownlow vote.
TOTAL VOTES IN WINS
1 – Bodhi Uwland – 35
2 – John Noble – 32
3 – Mac Andrew – 30
4 – Sam Collins, Touk Miller & Christian Petracca – 29
7 – Noah Anderson – 22
8 – Dan Rioli – 21
9 – Bailey Humphrey & Wil Powell – 20
TOTAL VOTES IN LOSSES
1 – Leo Lombard – 29
2 – Sam Collins – 25
3 – Bodhi Uwland – 22
4 – Mac Andrew – 20
5 – Noah Anderson & Ned Moyle – 18
7 – Matt Rowell – 16
8 – Ben Long – 15
9 – Jed Walter – 13
10 – Touk Miller, Bailey Humphrey & Beau Addinsall – 11
AVERAGE VOTES IN WINS
1 – Matt Rowell – 4.25
2 – Sam Collins – 4.14
3 – Bodhi Uwland – 3.89
4 – Christian Petracca – 3.63
5 – John Noble – 3.56
6 – Mac Andrew – 3.33
7 – Touk Miller – 3.22
8 – Ned Moyle & Nic Holman – 3.0
10 – Noah Anderson – 2.75
AVERAGE VOTES IN LOSSES
1 – Leo Lombard – 2.15
2 – Sam Collins – 1.92
3 – Bodhi Uwland – 1.69
4 – Ned Moyle – 1.64
5 – Mac Andrew – 1.54
6 – Noah Anderson & Beau Addinsall – 1.38
8 – Ben Long – 1.25
9 – Matt Rowell – 1.23
10 – Jed Walter & Zeke Uwland – 1.00
Rowell’s 12 votes took his career total to 101 and made him the second SUNS player to top 100 votes behind Ablett’s 122, but Anderson’s 15 votes left him just short at 98. Miller, fourth on the all-time list, now has 83 votes.
Petracca’s 15 votes took his career total to 145 and up to 46th place in AFL history.
Only nine current players have more than Petracca after Patrick Dangerfield’s three votes for Geelong on Monday night saw him equal Ablett’s all-time AFL high of 262.
They are Patrick Dangerfield (262), Marcus Bontempelli (247), Lachie Neale (245), Patrick Cripps (232), Scott Pendlebury (230), Max Gawn (172), Zach Merrett (169), Luke Parker (158) and record-smashing 2026 winner Nick Daicos (156).
Clayton Oliver, Petracca’s ex-Melbourne teammate, led the GWS vote in his first season with 23 and is now just one vote behind Petracca at 144.
