The 2011 Brownlow Medal was the 84th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the

fairest and best In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

player during the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) home and away season.

Dane Swan Dane Swan (born 25 February 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

of the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

won the medal by polling thirty-four votes during the

2011 AFL season The 2011 AFL season was the 115th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured s ...

. Swan's tally of 34 votes broke the long standing record for most votes in a Brownlow Medal counted under the 3-2-1 voting system, previously set at 32 votes by

Herbie Matthews Herbie Matthews (20 November 1913 – 8 June 1990) was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was recruited to South Melbourne from suburban club Fairfield. His father, "Butch ...

Des Fothergill Desmond Hugh Fothergill (15 July 1920 – 16 March 1996) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for Williamstown Football Club in the Victorian Football Associatio ...

( 1940) and Robert Harvey ( 1998 Brownlow Medal). It remained the record until surpassed by

Patrick Dangerfield Patrick Dangerfield (born 5 April 1990) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Adelaide Football Club. Drafted by Adelaide in 2007, Dangerfi ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Leading vote-getters

* The player was ineligible to win the medal due to suspension by the

AFL Tribunal The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League (AFL), an Australian rules football competition. The Tribunal regulates the conduct of players, umpires, and other officials associated with the AFL and its clubs. ...

during the year.

Voting procedure

The three field

umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

(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.

Favourites

For most of the season, Carlton's

Chris Judd Christopher Dylan Judd (born 8 September 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and captain of both the West Coast Eagles and Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Widely regarded as one of the bes ...

was an overwhelming favourite in betting markets to win the award for a second consecutive year, and third time overall. By round 18, his odds were shorter than $2 to win the award, and one agency, Sportsbet, decided to pay out early to all punters who had already backed Judd for the win. Sydney's

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

, who had attracted odds as wide as $30 during the season, had a very strong end to the season, and closed in to second-favouritism by the count. Collingwood's

Scott Pendlebury Scott Pendlebury (born 7 January 1988) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has served as the Collingwood captain since the 2014 season. In round ...

and

Dane Swan Dane Swan (born 25 February 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

, and Carlton's Marc Murphy, were also expected to feature prominently in the count.

Ineligible players

As the medal is awarded to the fairest and best player in the league, those who have been suspended during the season by the

(or, who avoided suspension only because of a discount for a good record or an early guilty plea) are ineligible to win the award; however, they may still continue to poll votes. The most notable player ineligible for the 2011 Brownlow Medal was Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell. Mitchell received a one-match sanction, which was reduced to a reprimand without suspension with an early guilty plea, for rough conduct against Geelong's, Steve Johnson in round 5. Mitchell featured prominently in several media best and fairest awards, including winning the

Lou Richards Medal The Lou Richards Medal is an annual Most Valuable Player award for the Australian Football League, based on votes from the '' Sunday Footy Show'' panel each week. History The Lou Richards Medal is named after former Collingwood player, Lou Ric ...

and the ''Herald Sun'' Player of the Year, and was considered a realistic chance to poll the most votes; he ultimately polled the second-most votes, four fewer than winner Dane Swan. His 30 votes was the most by any ineligible player in AFL history until it was surpassed by 's

's 33 votes in

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. Other ineligible players included: Dale Thomas ();

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three-ti ...

Joel Corey Joel Corey (born 17 February 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, tall and weighing , Corey is able to contribute inside or outside whi ...

Matthew Scarlett Matthew Scarlett (born 5 June 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer, who formerly played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A fullback, who is tall and weighing , Scarlett is the eldest son of forme ...

Brad Ottens Brad Ottens (born 25 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). AFL career Richmond: 1998–2004 Selec ...

();

Lance Franklin Lance Franklin (born 30 January 1987), also known as Buddy Franklin, is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Hawthorn Football Club from ...

Cyril Rioli Cyril Rioli (born 14 July 1989) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. Rioli was a member of four premiership teams and the Norm Smith Medallist from the 2015 ...

Jordan Lewis Jordan Michael Lewis (born 24 April 1986) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. AFL career Hawthorn Lewis was drafted by Hawthorn ...

(); Shane Mumford,

Ryan O'Keefe Ryan O'Keefe (born 24 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer with the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL), and was part of the Swans' 2005 and 2012 premiership-winning sides. O'Keefe was a membe ...

();

Leigh Montagna Leigh “Joey” Montagna (; born 2 November 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A two time All-Australian, Montagna finished his career 7 ...

Nick Riewoldt Nicholas Fredrick Riewoldt ( ; born 17 October 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the first draft selection in the 2000 AFL draft. He was the ...

();

Colin Sylvia Colin Martin Sylvia (8 November 1985 – 28 October 2018) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Football career At 15 years of age, ...

Jack Trengove Jack Trengove (born 2 September 1991) is a professional Australian rules footballer who most recently played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, tall and weighing , Trengove is capable ...

Brent Moloney Brent Moloney (born 28 January 1984) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions, Melbourne Football Club and Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Originating from Warrnambool, ...

(); Jack Redden (); Brent Stanton ();

Luke McPharlin Luke McPharlin (born 1 December 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the Fremantle Football Club between 2002 and 2015, after two seasons with the Hawthorn Football ...

();

Nathan Bock Nathan Bock (born 20 March 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Adelaide Football Club between 2002 and 2010, and joined the new Gold Coast Football Club in 2011. Adelaide ca ...

();

Nic Naitanui Nicholas Mark Naitanui (; born 4 May 1990) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was born in Sydney to Fijian parents, and his family moved to Perth, Western Austra ...

(); and Daniel Cross ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlow Medal 2011 Australian Football League season

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