On the eve of the 2017 Brownlow Medal, Collingwood Media gives you an insight into the Magpies' chances at football's night of nights.
Where is it held?
The Brownlow Medal count will again be held at the Crown Palladium. The Palladium has been the home to the Brownlow in all bar two years since the venue opened in 1997.
In fact, the Brownlow has not left the Palladium since it was hosted on the playing surface at the Docklands Stadium in 2002.
Who’s invited?
Captain and perennial vote-getter Scott Pendlebury will head up the Collingwood table, alongside Steele Sidebottom, Jeremy Howe, Taylor Adams and Brodie Grundy. Coach Nathan Buckley, himself a past winner, will also be in attendance.
How can I watch it?
The Seven Network will be broadcasting the red carpet arrivals from 7.30pm, while the vote count itself will begin at 8.30pm.
Radio stations Triple M, FIVEaa, AFL Nation, 3AW and 6PR will also be broadcasting the vote count live.
Collingwood Media will be tweeting the count live on @CollingwoodFC throughout the evening. Pick up your smart phone and get involved!
Dane Swan, Collingwood's last Medallist in 2011, shows off the Medal at the St Kilda Sea Baths.
Are any Magpies in the running?
Unfortunately, this doesn’t look like being a year the Magpies add a 10th Brownlow Medal to their history books.
Scott Pendlebury looked like making a tilt earlier in the year, only for a broken finger to cut short his campaign after 16 games.
He is likely to poll strongly beforehand, though, and enters the count with a fine record of 150 votes in his first 129 home and away games.
The highest return of his career came in 2011, when he polled 24 votes (still a good 10 short of Dane Swan’s winning total), though last year’s 17 votes was his best result since 2013.
Elsewhere, Adam Treloar will be looking to build on his 21-vote 2016 season. His numbers (29.9 disposals per game) remain quite similar to those of last year, while he missed only the one match.
Steele Sidebottom, for all his consistency, is rarely a big vote getter (he has never polled more than nine in a season), while Taylor Adams will be hoping to build on the 13 he polled in his past two seasons.
Three vote certainties
Expect these players to come very close to polling three votes in these games later this evening…
Adam Treloar – Round 3 v Sydney
28 disposals (12 kicks, 16 handballs), 15 tackles, 7 inside 50s, 5 clearances, 1 goal
Scott Pendlebury – Round 6 v Geelong
33 disposals (15 kicks, 18 handballs), 6 marks, 9 tackles, 6 inside 50s, 1 goal
Scott Pendlebury – Round 9 v Hawthorn
36 disposals (20 kicks, 16 handballs), 9 tackles, 9 inside 50s, 7 clearances, 1 goal
Jordan De Goey – Round 18 v West Coast
20 disposals (12 kicks, 8 handballs), 3 tackles, 4 inside 50s, 4 goals, 2 behinds
Can Goldy break the drought?
Before the 2017 season began, Tyson Goldsack had played 128 home and away games.
He had not polled a Brownlow Medal vote in a single game.
Did the umpires finally award him the recognition he deserves on footy’s night of nights?
Goldsack did his chances no harm, playing 20 senior games, with standout performances early in the season against Richmond and Sydney hopefully providing him with a platform to earn a nod from the umpires.
They can’t win it
Unfortunately for Levi Greenwood, Brodie Grundy and Travis Varcoe, they can count themselves out of Brownlow Medal contention. Suspensions from the Match Review Panel have seen to that.
Scott Pendlebury and wife Alex walk the red carpet in 2016.
It’s not just the Brownlow
Two Magpies are in contention for the AFL’s Mark of the Year, which will be announced during Monday night’s count.
Jeremy Howe’s hanger against Melbourne on the Queen’s Birthday and Brodie Grundy’s towering grab against Port Adelaide a fortnight later are among the final three nominations.
They’re up against Essendon’s Joe Daniher. Surely there will be some Black and White representation on the stage?
Quirky fact
Fan favourite Alan Toovey played a total of 146 home and away games, but not once did he earn a Brownlow Medal vote from the umpires.
Other Magpies to join Tooves and Goldsack near the top of the voteless column are Glenn Freeborn (123 home and away games with North Melbourne and Collingwood) and Nathan Brown (120 games with Collingwood before moving to St Kilda at the start of the 2017 season).
At last! Nathan Buckley heads to the stage to receive his Brownlow Medal in 2003 after several years of near misses.
