The Easter weekend delivered a big five days of action for Round 3 of the 2024 AFL season. There might not be any huge changes to the Brownlow leaderboard after this round, but still plenty of interesting matches for us to analyse with our Brownlow vote predictions!
As usual, we’ll share our thoughts from every match of the AFL season, along with our Brownlow vote predictions and projections using our own system which has a proven profitable history over many years. For full details on how it works, see the section at the bottom of the page. We hope you'll use our free Brownlow tips to help you find value during the season and built a green book before the big night.
For links to every round of the season and full count, head to our 2024 Brownlow Medal Leaderboard page (coming soon).
2024 AFL Brownlow Round 3 Overview
Reigning Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale was star in Round 3 and will grab some votes, but will he do enough to win the three in a losing effort while Nick Daicos also had a good game? The other interesting watch is Nic Martin's 44-disposal effort for Essendon. They got the win but a lot of his disposals weren't overly influential. Patrick Cripps, Zach Merrett, Max Gawn and Marcus Bontempelli are other big names likely to be read out in Round 3, while our Brownlow leader Isaac Heeney might have polled for the fourth match in a row to start the season.
Check out our 2024 Round 3 Brownlow votes below and we'll have our updated leaderboard up on the site soon!
2024 AFL Brownlow Votes - Round 3 Match Analysis
Brisbane 10.12.72 def by Collingwood 14.8.92
It was the Grand Final rematch with both teams still looking for their first win of 2024, but it was the Pies who got on top to leave Brisbane in some trouble. Nick Daicos (30 disposals) was back to his best, with John Noble (24 disposals) and Jamie Elliott (4 goals, 16 disposals) also valuable contributors. For the Lions, reigning Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale (35 disposals, 10 clearances, 1 goal) should be in the votes, while Hugh McLuggage (29 disposals, 7 clearances, 1 goal) and Dayne Zorko (30 disposals) were also among their best.
Lachie Neale - 3
Nick Daicos - 2
Jamie Elliott - 1
North Melbourne 12.9.81 def by Carlton 21.11.137
The twin towers of Carlton had their way with an under-sized North Melbourne backline on Good Friday. Harry McKay (5 goals, 19 disposals, 10 marks) was arguably the best while Charlie Curnow (4 goals, 15 disposals) hobbled off in the last quarter. Patrick Cripps (28 disposals, 9 clearances, 1 goal) and George Hewett (26 disposals, 6 tackles, 9 clearances, 1 goal) were the chief distributors in the midfield. Harry Sheezel (32 disposals, 8 marks) and Tom Powell (29 disposals, 6 clearances, 1 goal) were good for North but unlikely to poll.
Harry McKay - 3
Patrick Cripps - 2
Charlie Curnow - 1
Fremantle 9.15.69 def Adelaide 4.10.34
Freo got the win in a low-scoring, and rather ugly, contest with the Crows with Hayden Young (32 disposals, 8 marks, 7 tackles, 8 clearances), Jordan Clark (26 disposals, 7 marks), Luke Ryan (27 disposals, 10 marks), Alex Pearce (13 disposals, 5 marks) and Michael Walters (21 disposals, 8 marks, 2 goals) among their best. Not much of a day for the Crows but Mark Keane (26 disposals, 11 marks) was kept busy in defence.
Hayden Young - 3
Jordan Clark - 1
Alex Pearce - 1
Michael Walters - 1
Essendon 10.11.71 def St Kilda 9.13.67
The Saints may rue letting this one get away as the Bombers came home to pinch victory. This will be an interesting one for Brownlow voting. Nic Martin had the ball on a string with an equal club record 44 disposals and 8 marks, but they weren’t always effective or influential. Zach Merrett (30 disposals, 6 tackles, 7 clearances), Andrew McGrath (30 disposals, 8 marks, 1 goal) and Dyson Heppell (30 disposals, 12 marks) were also busy. Seb Ross (28 disposals, 7 marks, 6 clearances, 1 goal), Jack Steele (29 disposals, 9 marks, 7 tackles) and Riley Bonner (32 disposals, 9 marks) could all challenge for a vote.
Nic Martin - 3
Zach Merrett - 2
Seb Ross - 1
Port Adelaide 13.11.89 def by Melbourne 15.6.96
A massive clash between two contenders saw the Dees land a big away win over the Power. Alex Neal-Bullen (24 disposals, 6 tackles, 2 goals) and Max Gawn (20 disposals, 6 marks, 50 hitouts, 6 clearances, 1 goal) are probably set to duke it out for best-on-ground, with Trent Rivers (27 disposals) and Jack Viney (21 disposals, 8 tickles, 6 clearances, 1 goal) also valuable. Willem Drew (25 disposals, 11 tackles, 10 clearances) was the stand out for the Power.
Alex Neal-Bullen - 2.5
Max Gawn - 2.5
Willem Drew - 1
Western Bulldogs 16.10.106 West Coast Eagles 3.12.30
The Bulldogs cruised to a big win over the Eagles who have yet to even win a quarter of footy so far this season. Adam Treloar (35 disposals, 8 clearances, 1 goal) was the star with support from Bailey Williams (26 disposals, 8 marks), Bailey Dale (25 disposals, 10 marks) and Marcus Bontempelli (16 disposals, 6 marks, 9 tackles, 3 goals), while Aaron Naughton had 13 score involvements in his 20 disposals, 8 marks and 1 goal. Jeremy McGovern (24 disposals, 11 marks) was a rock for the Eagles in defence, while Elliot Yeo (29 disposals, 8 clearances) won his share of the ball in the middle.
Adam Treloar - 3
Marcus Bontempelli - 1.5
Aaron Naughton - 1.5
Richmond 11.16.82 def Sydney 11.11.77
Richmond caused a massive upset as they got home against the undefeated Swans. Nick Vlastuin (29 disposals, 13 marks) was superb with his interceptions and efficiency with the ball, while Tim Taranto (35 disposals, 6 tackles, 8 clearances, 1 goal) was excellent in the middle. Liam Baker (21 disposals, 6 tackles, 2 goals) and Shai Bolton (25 disposals, 2 goals) were also important in the win. Isaac Heeney continued his impressive start to the season with 27 disposals, 8 marks and 2 goals, while James Rowbottom (19 disposals, 13 tackles) was ferocious in the middle.
Nick Vlastuin - 3
Tim Taranto - 2
Isaac Heeney - 0.5
Shai Bolton - 0.5
Hawthorn 10.10.70 def by Geelong 17.4.106
The Cats had to ensure a delay due to lightning, but eventually ran away with a comfortable victory over the Hawks. Tanner Bruhn (27 disposals, 9 clearances), Mitch Duncan (26 disposals, 9 marks, 1 goal) and Max Holmes (23 disposals, 6 tackles, 1 goal) were good while Tom Hawkins kicked 4 goals from 12 disposals in his 350th game. James Worpel was arguably the best player on the ground with 36 disposals, 8 tackles, 6 clearances and a goal in a valiant effort.
James Worpel - 3
Tanner Bruhn - 2
Mitch Duncan - 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.
If you intend on using our Brownlow votes to bet why not consider one of the best Australian sports betting sites which offer some great features for new customers. Also be sure to check out our Twitter page at @Before_You_Bet and continue returning to the site for our AFL tips.
