Round 7 of the 2022 AFL season sees Melbourne remain undefeated and on top of the ladder, while a new contender has emerged in the Fremantle Dockers who knocked off Geelong at home in a massive upset. Brisbane are also purring nicely as they accounted for fellow contender in the Sydney Swans in impressive fashion.
Once again we bring you our analysis and AFL Round 7 Brownlow vote predictions for every match of the round below!
And for the updated rolling leaderboard, head to our 2022 Brownlow Medal Leaderboard page.
AFL Brownlow Round 7 Overview
Is the 2022 Brownlow over already? Has a winner been found after just 7 rounds? It seems highly likely that Patrick Cripps has five perfect games from those 7 rounds, so unless injury or suspension hits him (which is quite possibly given his injury history), then he's going to be hard to beat for the 2022 Brownlow Medal. Cripps is in sublime form, and with his forward presence to hit the scoreboard, he's virtually untaggable and unstoppable at the moment.
Former Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale might be the biggest threat to Cripps after the Brisbane star was best on ground against Sydney. Neale looks to be back to his best and he knows how to attract the umpires votes!
Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca are only outside chances of polling votes in Round 7, and in fact, we haven't given them votes here at all. Similarly for Callum Mills who also has been in great form for the Swans.
AFL Round 7 Brownlow Votes
West Coast 8.8.56 def by Richmond 25.15.165
An awful Friday night spectacle as the Tigers absolutely dismantled the hapless Eagles. The Tigers had winners everywhere with Shai Bolton (30 disposals, 8 marks, 7 clearances, 3 goals), Jayden Short (31 disposals, 7 marks) and Nick Vlastuin (24 disposals, 10 marks) winning plenty of ball. They fed it into Tom Lynch who was a man mountain with 7 goals from 19 disposals and 14 marks. He also kicked 5 behinds, so if he’d kicked straight it would’ve been a monstrous night.
Tom Lynch - 3
Shai Bolton - 2
Jayden Short - 1
Geelong 10.6.66 def by Fremantle 10.9.69
The purple army might just be the real deal after Freo knocked off the Cats down at the Cattery in a memorable victory. Blake Acres (27 disposals, 6 marks, 1 goal) and Andrew Brayshaw (28 disposals) set up the win from the midfield for the Dockers. Tom Stewart (40 disposals, 14 marks) was arguably best on field, while Cam Guthrie (35 disposals, 8 clearances) was also busy.
Tom Stewart - 3
Blake Acres - 2
Andrew Brayshaw - 0.5
Cam Guthrie - 0.5
Adelaide 8.6.54 def by GWS Giants 17.11.113
The Giants aren’t done with in 2022 just yet as they recorded an impressive away win against the Crows. Josh Kelly (41 disposals, 6 tackles, 8 clearances), Isaac Cumming (33 disposals, 7 tackles), Stephen Coniglio (20 disposals, 7 tackles, 3 goals) and Toby Greene (17 disposals, 7 marks, 4 goals) were all excellent in the win. Rory Laird (35 disposals, 7 tackles) tried hard on a disappointing day for the Crows.
Josh Kelly - 3
Toby Greene - 2
Isaac Cumming - 1
Melbourne 13.13.91 def Hawthorn 11.15.81
The Dees never shook the Hawks but did enough to hang on to the victory. Max Gawn was enormous in the middle with 29 disposals, 6 marks, 35 hitouts, 9 clearances and 2 goals in a complete performance. Clayton Oliver (33 disposals, 7 marks) and Christian Petracca (31 disposals, 1 goal) were typically busy without being dominant. James Sicily (26 disposals, 13 marks) patrolled the backline superbly and Dylan Moore (33 disposals, 11 marks, 1 goal) was a livewire for the Hawks, and they may pinch the minor votes.
Max Gawn - 3
James Sicily - 1.5
Dylan Moore - 1.5
St.Kilda 4.18.42 def by Port Adelaide 5.13.43
An ugly scoreline for a scrappy contest played in slippery conditions in Cairns. It might be a tough game for votes with no clear stand out players. Ollie Wines (27 disposals, 1 goal), Connor Rozee (23 disposals) and Zac Butters (23 disposals) were good for Port to help them grab the win, while Jack Steele (27 disposals, 8 tackles, 6 clearances) and Seb Ross (31 disposals) were best for the Saints.
Ollie Wines - 3
Jack Steele - 1
Seb Ross - 1
Zac Butters - 1
Carlton 17.12.114 def North Melbourne 10.4.64
The Blues thumped the Kangaroos with 2022 Brownlow Medal favourite Patrick Cripps again likely to be in the votes. Cripps collected 35 disposals, 10 clearances and a goal in another eye-catching performance. Sam Docherty (33 disposals), Sam Walsh (29 disposals, 1 goal) and Adam Saad (25 disposals) were all busy while Harry McKay (15 disposals, 11 marks, 4 goals) hit the scoreboard.
Patrick Cripps - 3
Sam Docherty - 2
Sam Walsh - 1
Collingwood 17.13.115 def Gold Coast 14.6.90
The Pies did enough to shake the Suns on Sunday. Patrick Lipinski (30 disposals), Jack Crisp (28 disposals, 8 marks, 6 tackles, 7 clearances, 1 goal), Scott Pendlebury (25 disposals, 6 tackles) were the chief ball winners, Josh Daicos (20 disposals, 2 goals) was lively, while Brody Mihocek (13 disposals, 7 marks, 4 goals) was a threat up forward. Touk Miller was likely best on ground for his 36 disposals, 6 tackles, 10 clearances and 2 goals while Noah Anderson (32 disposals, 6 clearances) was also good for the Suns.
Touk Miller - 3
Patrick Lipinski - 1
Jack Crisp - 1
Josh Daicos - 1
Western Bulldogs 16.7.103 def Essendon 10.11.71
The Dons are in a world of pain in 2022 after the Dogs produced a comfortable victory. Josh Dunkley was best with 29 disposals, 6 tackles and 2 goals, with good support from Jack Macrae (28 disposals), Caleb Daniel (32 disposals) and Bailey Dale (28 disposals, 7 marks). Zach Merrett (36 disposals) and Darcy Parish (32 disposals) won plenty of ball as usual, but the critics will argue their influence was negligible.
Josh Dunkley - 3
Caleb Daniel - 2
Jack Macrae - 0.5
Bailey Dale - 0.5
Sydney 13.11.89 def by Brisbane 17.11.113
Brisbane are proving to be the main threat to the dominance of the Dees in 2022 after accounting for Sydney at the SCG. Lachie Neale is back to his best as he amassed 37 disposals, including 26 contested, 9 tackles, 11 clearances and a goal in a best-on-ground performance. Dayne Zorko (22 disposals, 8 marks, 2 goals) was back into the middle while Hugh McLuggage (28 disposals) was also influential. Lance Franklin (6 goals, 15 disposals, 7 marks) threatened to blow the game open with an amazing burst in the third quarter, while Luke Parker (33 disposals, 6 tackles, 8 clearances) and Callum Mills (30 disposals, 7 tackles, 1 goal) were also good contributors for the Swans.
Lachie Neale - 3
Dayne Zorko - 2
Lance Franklin - 1
For those who need a refresher on how our Brownlow vote predictor system works, we assign 6 votes per game so that our total votes are the same as the official 3-2-1 system, however we break up those votes as we see fit across potentially more than three players. Some games are really tough to call which way the votes will go, so a better predictive model is to split performances and assign half points to each player where there is doubt. So for example if two players dominate and it's too hard to split their performance, they are given 2.5 votes each, with the remaining 1 vote given to another player(s). This will give us a predictive total closer to their true total, rather than guessing. We can then form a 'range' for each player (i.e. a min and max we think players can poll) with the thinking behind this that the variations from the half votes will even out over the long term.
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