Round 17 brought plenty of twists! The Lions and Swans confirmed their premiership credentials with big prime time victories, while the Dockers' winning streak is over at the hands of the Giants. It's the Dockers against the Swans next week in a mouth-watering clash between first and second on the ladder. The Blues continue to rise as they are now inside the top 10, while Melbourne, Collingwood and Port Adelaide also landed important wins.
As usual, we’ll share our thoughts from every match of the AFL season, along with our Brownlow vote predictions and projections using our own system which has a proven profitable history over many years. For full details on how it works, see the section at the bottom of the page. We hope you'll use our free Brownlow tips to help you find value during the season and built a green book before the big night.
For links to every round of the season and full count, head to our 2026 Brownlow Medal Leaderboard page and check out the latest Brownlow Odds.
2026 AFL Brownlow Round 17 Overview
We hope you took the $2.60 last week for Nick Daicos to win the Brownlow, as another best-on-ground performance in Round 17 has seen his odds shorten to odds-on favourite. He's going to be hard to stop! His opposition may be too far behind now, but Round 17 did see good performances from Jordan Dawson, Max Gawn, Isaac Heeney, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Jason Horne-Francis who are all climbing up the leaderboard.
Check out our 2026 Round 17 Brownlow votes below and our updated 2026 Brownlow leaderboard here!
2026 AFL Brownlow Votes - Round 17 Match Analysis
Geelong 14.17.101 def by Brisbane 19.9.123
Brisbane sent another powerful premiership statement with a 22-point win over Geelong at GMHBA Stadium, seizing control with an eight-goal opening term. Will Ashcroft (32 disposals, 7 marks, 6 clearances), Zac Bailey (20 disposals, 3 goals) and Cam Rayner (24 disposals, 8 marks, 1 goal) were excellent for the Lions, while Kai Lohmann starred with 5 goals from 13 disposals. It was a vintage 5-goal performance from Patrick Dangerfield from 17 disposals, 7 marks and 6 tackles while Bailey Smith had 31 disposals, 9 tackles and 7 clearances for the Cats.
Patrick Dangerfield - 3
Will Ashcroft - 2
Kai Lohmann - 1
Sydney 13.12.90 def Western Bulldogs 7.13.55
The Swans jumped the Dogs early and maintained that advantage all night. Charlie Curnow has murdered the Dogs twice this season as he added another 6 goals to his tally to go with 14 disposals and 9 marks. Brodie Grundy was unstoppable with a staggering 61 hitouts as well as 17 disposals and 6 clearances. Isaac Heeney (27 disposals, 6 tackles, 8 clearances, 1 goal), Callum Mills (26 disposals, 9 marks) and Chad Warner (24 disposals, 1 goal) were also important. Ed Richards (29 disposals, 6 tackles, 8 clearances) was the only Bulldog to stand tall.
Charlie Curnow - 3
Brodie Grundy - 2
Isaac Heeney - 1
West Coast 11.8.74 def by Adelaide 15.9.99
The Crows didn’t have it all their own way, but they got the job done in the west against the Eagles. Jordan Dawson continued his outstanding season with 27 disposals, 7 marks, 8 tackles, 6 clearances and a goal in a complete performance. Izak Rankine (27 disposals, 7 clearances, 1 goal) and Rory Laird (25 disposals, 8 marks) were busy while Darcy Fogarty (4 goals, 12 disposals, 7 marks) again kicked multiple goals. Liam Duggan (24 disposals, 8 marks) was best for the Eagles.
Jordan Dawson - 3
Izak Rankine - 2
Darcy Fogarty - 1
Hawthorn 14.6.90 def by Melbourne 19.11.125
That was a crazy game of football! The Dees pulverized the Hawks in the first half, and extended to a 96-point lead in the third quarter, before the Hawks came to life with 12 goals in a row to add respectability to the score. While the goals were flowing, it was Max Gawn who led the charge in the middle of the ground with 22 disposals, 31 hitouts and 10 clearances in a dominant performance. Jacob van Rooyen (5 goals, 24 disposals, 8 marks) had his best game while Bailey Fritsch (5 goals, 13 disposals, 7 marks) also collected a bag. Kysaiah Pickett (25 disposals, 7 clearances) was also very good. For the Hawks, Josh Ward (25 disposals, 7 marks, 2 goals) was a stand out, along with Blake Hardwick (25 disposals, 9 marks), while Mabior Chol (5 goals, 17 disposals, 7 marks) was also a force up forward.
Max Gawn - 2.5
Jacob van Rooyen - 2.5
Bailey Fritsch - 1
GWS Giants 16.13.109 def Fremantle 13.10.88
The Giants caused a massive upset as the winning streak of the Dockers was brought to an end. Jake Stringer was the catalyst with a bag of 7 goals from 14 disposals and 6 marks. Toby Greene (26 disposals, 3 goals) was enormous while Finn Callaghan (30 disposals), Clayton Oliver (32 disposals, 10 clearances) and Connor Idun (26 disposals, 12 marks) were all excellent. Karl Worner (29 disposals, 10 marks) and Caleb Serong (31 disposals, 6 tackles, 6 clearances) were best for Freo.
Jake Stringer - 3
Toby Greene - 2
Finn Callaghan - 0.5
Clayton Oliver - 0.5
Gold Coast 15.8.98 def by Collingwood 15.14.104
The Pies hung on for a great away victory in a spiteful match against the Suns. Nick Daicos will again be likely to have his name read out on Brownlow night, and the Medal could be as good as won as he collected 31 disposals, 8 clearances and a goal. Josh Daicos (25 disposals) and Patrick Lipinski (24 disposals, 1 goal) were good while Tim Membrey (18 disposals, 9 marks, 3 goals) was lively up forward. Zeke Uwland (32 disposals, 16 marks, 1 goal) had a day out, while Bodhi Uwland (28 disposals, 6 marks), John Noble (33 disposals, 13 marks), Touk Miller (28 disposals, 10 tackles) and Christian Petrecca (28 disposals, 7 clearances, 1 goal) all battled hard.
Nick Daicos - 3
Tim Membrey - 2
Zeke Uwland - 0.5
Bodhi Uwland - 0.5
Richmond 10.12.72 def by Carlton 10.14.74
The Blues are now inside the Top 10 on the back of their seventh win on the trot which is an unbelievable return for interim coach Josh Fraser after they were 1-8 to start the season. George Hewett (26 disposals, 9 tackles, 2 goals) was excellent, with Jagga Smith (29 disposals) and Patrick Cripps (25 disposals, 6 clearances, 1 goal) providing good support. Tim Taranto (25 disposals, 8 clearances) and Noah Balta (25 disposals, 7 marks, 6 hitouts, 2 goals) were best for the Tigers.
George Hewett - 3
Jagga Smith - 2
Patrick Cripps - 1
Essendon 7.8.50 def by St Kilda 17.15.117
It was another embarrassing performance by Essendon as St Kilda secured a very comfortable win. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was far too good for any attention that the Bombers showed him, racking up 46 disposals, 7 marks, 1 goal and a whopping 897 metres gained. Max Hall (33 disposals, 9 marks, 9 tackles, 1 goal), Brad Hill (42 disposals, 14 marks, 1 goal) and Hugo Garcia (29 disposals, 6 marks, 1 goal) dominated the possession count while Rowan Marshall (20 disposals, 6 tackles, 20 hitouts, 8 clearances, 2 goals) enjoyed the freedom of being the solo ruck. Zach Merrett (28 disposals, 6 marks, 7 tackles) was best for the Bombers.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera - 3
Max Hall - 1.5
Brad Hill - 1.5
Port Adelaide 10.13.73 def North Melbourne 7.10.53
The Power kicked the last three goals of the game to edge past the Roos in a scrappy game that lacked flow as the umpires blew their whistle for a whopping 70 free kicks. Jason Horne-Francis (24 disposals, 9 clearances, 1 goal) and Zak Butters (26 disposals) may be in the votes for Port, while Darcy Byrne-Jones (24 disposals, 8 marks) was strong across half-back. Luke Davies-Uniacke (31 disposals, 6 marks, 7 clearances, 1 goal) and Harry Sheezel (40 disposals, 7 marks, 9 tackles, 6 clearances, 1 goal) couldn’t have done any more to carry their team.
Jason Horne-Francis - 3
Luke Davies-Uniacke - 2
Harry Sheezel - 0.5
Zak Butters - 0.5
For those who need a refresher on how our Brownlow vote predictor system works, we assign 6 votes per game so that our total votes are the same as the official 3-2-1 system, however we break up those votes as we see fit across potentially more than three players. Some games are really tough to call which way the votes will go, so a better predictive model is to split performances and assign half points to each player where there is doubt. So for example if two players dominate and it's too hard to split their performance, they are given 2.5 votes each, with the remaining 1 vote given to another player(s). This will give us a predictive total closer to their true total, rather than guessing. We can then form a 'range' for each player (i.e. a min and max we think players can poll) with the thinking behind this that the variations from the half votes will even out over the long term.
If you intend on using our Brownlow votes to bet why not consider one of the best Australian sports betting sites which offer some great features for new customers. Also be sure to check out our Twitter page at @Before_You_Bet and continue returning to the site for our AFL tips.
