Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos has capped an extraordinary 2026 season by winning his first Brownlow Medal, producing a record breaking count to finally claim football’s highest individual honour.
After three consecutive podium finishes, including runner up results in 2024 and 2025, the 23 year old entered Monday night as the overwhelming favourite and delivered in emphatic fashion.
Daicos finished with a remarkable 47 votes, breaking Patrick Cripps’ previous single season record of 45 set in 2024.
He finished 11 votes clear of Geelong star Bailey Smith, who polled 36, while Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli was third with 34.
Daicos was in command for almost the entire count, leading after 23 of the 24 rounds. His dominance included polling votes in 18 matches, collecting 13 best on ground performances and producing an incredible run of six consecutive three vote games.
The victory makes Daicos the 10th Collingwood player to win the Brownlow Medal and the first Magpie to take home Charlie since Dane Swan in 2011.
His previous near misses had only added to the anticipation surrounding this year’s count. Daicos finished second to Patrick Cripps in 2024 with 38 votes before again finishing runner up last season, this time behind Gold Coast star Matt Rowell.
There would be no denying him in 2026.
After a tight opening half of the count, Daicos surged clear with an extraordinary stretch of eight best on ground performances across nine rounds. By round 21 his lead had become mathematically unbeatable.
It completed a season in which Daicos was one of the competition’s dominant players. He averaged 34.7 disposals per game and led the AFL in both disposals and score involvements, while also averaging 6.6 inside 50s, 10.8 contested possessions and 5.7 clearances.
His Brownlow triumph also completed a rare collection of individual honours.
Daicos won the AFL Players Association MVP and the AFL Coaches Association champion player award this season, making him only the fifth player to claim those two awards and the Brownlow Medal in the same year.
Gary Ablett junior, Patrick Dangerfield, Dustin Martin and Lachie Neale are the only other players to have achieved the feat.
There were several other pieces of Brownlow history made during the night.
Bontempelli became the player with the most three vote games in Brownlow history, moving to 60 across his career, while Patrick Dangerfield joined Gary Ablett junior at the top of the all time Brownlow voting table with 262 career votes.
But the night ultimately belonged to Collingwood’s number 35.
From a footy obsessed kid following his famous father Peter to games around Melbourne, to becoming one of the biggest names in the competition, Daicos now has a Brownlow Medal to add to an already extraordinary football résumé.
And after three years of getting agonisingly close, Nick Daicos finally has Charlie around his neck.