2022 Brownlow Medal

Award
2022 Brownlow Medal
2022 Brownlow Medallist Patrick Cripps
DateSunday, 18 September 2022
LocationCrown Palladium
Hosted byHamish McLachlan and Rebecca Maddern
WinnerPatrick Cripps (Carlton)
(29 votes)
Television/radio coverage
NetworkSeven Network
Telstra
← 2021 · Brownlow Medal · 2023 →

The 2022 Brownlow Medal was the 95th year the award is presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. It was won by Carlton midfielder Patrick Cripps.[1] The 2022 Brownlow Medal count was originally scheduled for Monday 19 September, its traditional date on the Monday before the grand final. It was rescheduled to Sunday 18 September at a week's notice, to avoid a clash with the funeral of Elizabeth II. The event returned to its conventional format and venue—a gala dinner at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne—after having been held virtually for the previous two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Cripps' win was not without controversy. Cripps was initially suspended by the Match Review Panel and AFL Tribunal in Round 21, for rough conduct in an front-on contest against Brisbane Lions' Callum Ah Chee, which ruled him ineligible and would have seen him miss the final rounds, in which he polled the winning votes;[3] Carlton had appealed the suspension to the AFL Appeals Board and was successful in overturning it.[4]

West Coast, which finished 17th with a 2–20 record, polled only 15 votes across all of its players combined, the lowest-ever tally for any club under the 3–2–1 voting system in a season of any length.[5]

Leading vote-getters

Player Votes
1st Patrick Cripps (Carlton) 29
2nd Lachie Neale (Brisbane) 28
3rd Touk Miller (Gold Coast) 27
=4th Andrew Brayshaw (Fremantle) 25
=4th Clayton Oliver (Melbourne) 25
6th Christian Petracca (Melbourne) 24
7th  Callum Mills (Sydney)  21
=8th  Jeremy Cameron (Geelong)  19
=8th  Dion Prestia (Richmond)   19
10th Zach Merrett (Essendon)   17

Voting procedure

The three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes, and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and they are read and tallied on the evening.[6]

Allegations of illegal betting

Several raids and arrests, including of second-year field umpire Michael Pell, were made in November 2022 after suspicious betting patterns into spot bets on the votes from many games Pell had umpired were investigated by sports corruption police.[7] As of September 2023, investigations were ongoing and no charges have been formally laid, and Pell was no longer employed by the AFL.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Blues boilover! Patrick Cripps steals Brownlow from Lachie Neale with FINAL vote in wildest medal count finish in years". Fox Sports. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  2. ^ Danielle Sorati (10 September 2022). "AFL changes date of Brownlow Medal". Zero Hanger. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Worth the legal fees! How Blues' last-ditch appeal won their superstar the Brownlow". Fox Sports. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Worth the legal fees! How Blues' last-ditch appeal won their superstar the Brownlow". Fox Sports. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  5. ^ Valencich, Glenn (19 September 2022). "Club's staggering act as horror season sinks to fresh low with new AFL record". 7news.com.au. Seven West Media. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Brownlow Medal history and winners - AFL.com.au". afl.com.au. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  7. ^ Mark Buttler, Anthony Dowsley, Mark Robinson, Carly Douglas (14 November 2022). "AFL umpire Michael Pell questioned by sports corruption cops over alleged Brownlow vote leak". Herald Sun.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "AFL 2022: League boss confirms umpire at centre of Brownlow scandal dumped". news.com.au. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
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