Brownlow Medal betting guide & odds
Brownlow Medal betting is available all year round, with odds released for the next season’s winner as soon as one winner is crowned. The Brownlow Medal is traditionally awarded on the Monday before the AFL grand final, which is usually scheduled for the last Saturday in September. Votes are given to players deemed best by an umpire in each game of the AFL home-and-away season on a 3-2-1 basis. All of Australia’s top AFL betting sites have Brownlow Medal betting available and it is one of the most popular futures markets surrounding Aussie Rules. You can view live odds and bet on the Brownlow Medal at the following betting sites or learn more about it below.
Brownlow Medal odds 2024
The odds for the 2024 Brownlow Medal are live, with many of the top AFL betting sites featuring extensive betting on the AFL league best-and-fairest. Collingwood sensation Nick Daicos tops the early 2024 Brownlow odds, ahead of Western Bulldogs ace Marcus Bontempelli, Carlton powerhouse Sam Walsh, last year’s winner Lachie Neale and Melbourne star Christian Petracca. The major players in the mix to win according to Brownlow odds include:
- Nick Daicos $6
- Marcus Bontempelli $9
- Sam Walsh $10
- Lachie Neale $11
- Christian Petracca $13
- Clayton Oliver $15
- Tom Green $15
- Zak Butters $15
- Errol Gulden $15
Best Brownlow Medal betting sites & bookmakers
All Australian online betting sites will have odds available for the Brownlow Medal, with this one of the most popular markets surrounding the AFL. The Brownlow Medal betting markets available at bookmakers do vary, with bigger operators such as Sportsbet and Ladbrokes having a greater variety of odds.
The top Brownlow bookmakers are online bookmakers, and it can really pay to check around several different betting sites before placing Brownlow bets, because the odds can be drastically different, especially among the longer-priced players.
Brownlow bets can be placed via all versions of online bookmakers, meaning you can bet via mobile (including betting apps), computer and basically anything with an internet connection and web browser.
List of top Brownlow Medal bookmakers
The following betting sites are all good options to bet on the 2024 Brownlow Medal:
Brownlow Medal betting promotions
The Brownlow Medal is one of the most bet upon markets on the AFL, which means there is competition between bookmakers to get the punters’ dollar. Brownlow Medal betting promotions are one such way to do this, however, the Australian government has clamped down on wagering promos and these are very limited in 2024.
It is now illegal for bookmakers to advertise sign-up incentives surrounding the Brownlow Medal, while they can’t even offer you boosted odds on certain players. The Australian Gambling List is also heavily restricted in what we can tell our readers surrounding Brownlow betting promos, with the best way to find out being to login to bookmaker accounts, where they can display all of their latest offers within the confines of the law.
What is the Brownlow Medal?
The Charles Brownlow Medal is awarded each season to the player or players judged the fairest and best in the Australian Football League, the No.1 competition for Australian football.
It is voted on by the field umpires in each regular-season match on a 3-2-1 basis, with the player accruing the most votes awarded the medal, providing he has not been suspended for foul play during the season.
The votes are decided after each match and submitted to the AFL, and they are kept under lock and key until the night of the Brownlow Medal count.
Brownlow Medal betting has grown enormously in the past decade; many keen students of the game keep their own counts during the season and are ready to strike if they can find value in any of the many markets on offer, of which there are plenty.
Bookmakers have tightened the markets considerably after they lost heavily on accumulator bets on top team vote-getters several years back. Generally, they will offer this option only on the day of the count now, and they are much better informed of likely outcomes than they were then.
Tips for finding the Brownlow Medal winner
The Chas Brownlow Medal (Charlie for short) can be a profitable medium for betting, provided you do your homework and search around for the best odds on your chosen player or option. After all, how many events do you get to bet on when all the action is already over, having been played out over 23 rounds before your very eyes?
Here are our quick Brownlow Medal tips, to help you make money on the night:
- Stick with midfielders: It’s not for nothing that this has become known as an award reserved solely for midfielders (those who are around the ball the most). Since 2000, one player who was not considered a mid-fielder, Sydney Swans superstar Adam Goodes (2003 and 2006), has triumphed. Goodes was often playing in the ruck in those days and probably qualified as an extra midfielder anyway, such was his athleticism and agility around the contest.
- Strength in numbers: If a player racks up huge numbers of possession, they generally fare well under the umpires’ judgment, regardless of how well they may have used those possessions.
- Good teams but not too good: The winning team in each match almost always gets the lion’s share of the votes. But if a team is packed with superstar midfielders they cannibalise the vote. Ie, they can cost each other votes and it can be hard for one player to stand out and snare enough votes to contend.
- Durability is a key: Of course, the winner will be a stand-out player, but it also helps if they can avoid injury. If you take six weeks out of someone’s season, it’s always going to be hard to compete against someone who has had all 23 games to poll votes.
- History is a good pointer: For whatever reason, certain players strike a chord with the umpires. It may be that they treat the men in white with respect and don’t level any abuse at them. Who knows? What we do know is that players who have polled well previously tend to do so again.
Brief history of the Brownlow medal
The medal started out as the Charles Brownlow Trophy for the fairest and best player in the Victorian Football League in 1924. It was struck in honour of Charles “Chas” Brownlow, a former Geelong player and long-time leading administrator in the VFL, who died early that year.
It was halted for several years during World War II but has endured to now be the crowning individual award for the Australian Football League.
The voting system has changed a couple of times over the years. In its first few years just a single vote was awarded for each match. In contrast 12 votes were award for each match in the 1976-77 seasons, though that experiment was short-lived.
Edward “Carji” Greeves of Geelong was the inaugural winner in 1924, polling seven votes to win by a single vote.
The modern history of the Brownlow Medal is dominated by midfielders, with Adam Goodes (2003 and 2006) the last player to win the award who was of key position size. Before this former Melbourne ruckman Jim Stynes (1991) was the last big man to win the award.
The 2020 and 2023 winner of the Brownlow Medal was Lions midfielder Lachie Neale. Neale, who began his career at Fremantle, typifies the modern Brownlow winner — a prolific midfielder who kills teams by a thousands cuts.
The Brownlow Medal has all kinds of integrity tests in its modern history, largely because of the very public and highly monetised nature of the event. For instance, any erratic AFL betting surrounding the Brownlow Medal is expected to be reported by the bookmakers to relevant authorities.
Brownlow Medal bet types available at online bookmakers
There are a tremendous array of options, especially come the day of the count. We will run through the main ones you may encounter.
- Win: Straight-out bet on who will win the medal.
- Place: A bet for a player to finish in the top three or possibly even top four in the count. Normal dead-heat rules would apply in the case of a tie.
- Quinella: Pick the first two players in the count.
- Halfway leader: Find the leader at the half-way point of the count, as deemed by the sportsbook, given there are 23 rounds in an AFL season.
- Top team votes: Pick the player to top the voting at each club.
- Head-to-head: Pick Player A or Player B to win the most votes. Mismatches can abound here, if you have kept an accurate count.
- Group votes: Pick the top vote-getter of players grouped together by the bookmaker. It may be a collection of ruckmen or full-forwards or something obscure such as players sharing the same surname.
- Under/over: Bet on over or under a certain number of votes for the winner, for a team or even for an individual player.
Brownlow Medal awards ceremony
The medal count is always held on the Monday night before the AFL grand final at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
Given all but two of the teams are out of contention for the title, it is the biggest night on the AFL calendar, a chance for AFL players and their partners to walk the red carpet and socialise.
The event is televised live and for the aficionado offers a recap of the season round by round. The awards for goal of the year and mark of the year are also awarded during the night.