Arabic version: دايكوس يفوز بميدالية براونلو وهيني ينهي السباق في المركز الثامن بالتساوي

According to ABC News, Nick Daicos won the Brownlow Medal with a record-breaking 47 votes, while Sydney Swans player Isaac Heeney finished equal-eighth on 26 votes. Heeney was outside the top five in the count, as Bailey Smith and Marcus Bontempelli also polled strongly.

The AFL had prepared a contingency plan in case Heeney won the league’s highest individual honour. The plan was not needed after Daicos’s vote total and the polling of Smith and Bontempelli. Heeney was the only Swans player considered a genuine contender once the count began.

Heeney did not poll until round four, when he received two votes, before claiming three votes against Gold Coast in Gather Round. He later produced three consecutive three-vote performances, rising into the top four at one stage. His total was ahead of teammate Errol Gulden, who finished on 17 votes after five consecutive best-afield performances to end the season.

Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon were stood down by Sydney in August for breaching club standards following a post-match incident at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne. They were ruled ineligible for All-Australian honours and were not invited to the Brownlow Medal function, though they remained eligible for the award. The suspensions are separate to a police investigation into sexual assault allegations; no charges have been laid.