The 2023 Brownlow Medal awaits on Monday evening, with the league's best and fairest competitor set to be recognised at Melbourne's Crown Palladium.
This year's count appears likely to go right down to the wire, with Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli and Collingwood father-son gun Nick Daicos representing the two main favourites to take out the prestigious award.
Daicos was considered the runaway winner prior to injuring his knee in Round 21, leaving the door open to a potential Bontempelli swoop, with the likes of Melbourne's Christian Petracca, Port Adelaide's Zak Butters, and Sydney's Errol Gulden also slated to press for consideration on Monday.
The question is, though, did 'Bont' do enough in Daicos' three-game absence to get over the top of the magnificent Magpie in the umpires' unpredictable voting?
We made our top-three prediction in anticipation of Monday night's count.
1. First place: Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)
Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli appears in the box seat to take home Monday night's award after claiming this season's Zero Hanger MVP crown, as well as the 2023 AFL Players Association MVP.
Bontempelli's 243 Zero Hanger MVP votes edged out Demon Christian Petracca's second-place tally of 224.
Across the course of the 2023 campaign, the 27-year-old averaged 27.6 disposals per game to go along with 7.5 tackles, 5.7 inside-50s, and 7.6 clearances.
Bontempelli also ranked third in the league this season in contested possessions per game, third in centre clearances per game, fifth in clearances per game, sixth in score involvements per game, and fifth in total tackles.
He played in all 23 of the Bulldogs' games.
Midfielder
Disposals
Tackles
Clearances
The Dogs' skipper, who was again selected to this year's All-Australian side, is likely to benefit from Collingwood star Nick Daicos' absence across the final three games of the home and away season.
The Bulldogs' skipper averaged 28.6 disposals, 9.3 tackles, and 8.3 clearances throughout his side's closing trio of games in 2023, though two of those performances -- against Hawthorn and the West Coast Eagles -- came in Bulldogs losses, clouding the possibility of nabbing three votes from those fixtures.
