Brownlow Medal: Who will lead after five rounds, 10 rounds

We’ve looked to identify who will be strong out of the gates in this year’s count 👇

EDITOR | September 18, 2021 - 1:15pm

There is sure to be an enticing finish to this year's Brownlow Medal count, with several stars of the game set to have a strong say in how the podium takes shape.

While the final few rounds will likely have fans and contenders on the edge of their seats, many will also be wanting to see who shoots out of the gates the fastest come the commencement of the count.

To give fans the advantage of knowing who may be leading come the end of Rounds 5 and 10, we've put together the leaders from this season's Zero Hanger MVP race, culminating a top-five list for each category.

RANK		LAST	TOTAL
1	Ollie Wines	18	255
2	Clayton Oliver	18	238
3	Sam Walsh	6	222
4	Touk Miller	15	222
5	Jack Steele	20	218

Throughout the season, four members from Zero Hanger voted on every match, awarding 5,4,3,2 and 1 votes for the best players in each game.

With these results, we've been able to identify who will be close to finishing near the podium come Sunday night, along with those that will have a strong starts early into the count.

After 5 Rounds

Come the end of Round 5, Bulldogs gun Jack Macrae is tipped to narrowly edge out Demons duo Clayton Oliver and Max Gawn for the top spot in the count.

Having polled MVP votes in all five matches to start the year, Macrae is a strong contender to be the early leader and surprise many.

Four of those performances saw the Dogs ball-magnet land 11 or more votes, meaning there's a good chance Macrae is seen among the top three best afield by the umpires.

BOG honours against Fremantle and St Kilda in the opening two rounds will also see Oliver off to a fiery start, however a quieter outing against the Giants in Round 3 may hinder his hopes of leading after five rounds.

Gawn may also share a few votes with Oliver and others, with a number of Demons likely to contend given their early undefeated run.

Crows veteran Taylor Walker had a monster start to his 2021 campaign and will be one to keep an eye on.

Jack Macrae - 63 MVP votes
Clayton Oliver - 59 votes
Max Gawn - 58 votes
Taylor Walker - 52 votes
Callum Mills - 51 votes

After 10 Rounds

A further five rounds into the night will likely see Oliver and Macrae swap places atop the leaderboard, with the Demons star tipped to back-to-back-to-back in being among the best in Rounds 8, 9 and 10.

Following a BOG Round 6 performance, Macrae is likely to fade in the rankings, having a string of quieter outings.

This is likely to be due to fellow Dogs midfielder and Brownlow fancy Marcus Bontempelli taking a hold of the votes between Rounds 8, 9 and 10 with Oliver.

Three consecutive three-votes games in those rounds will shoot the Dogs skipper into contention for the lead come Round 10 despite the quieter start.

A purple patch for Lions wingman Hugh McCluggage in Rounds 5-8 will likely gauge the umpires' attention, with the Brisbane jet potentially joining Macrae on the podium behind Oliver as another shock early riser.

Clayton Oliver - 130 MVP votes
Jack Macrae - 111 votes
Hugh McCluggage - 108 votes
Marcus Bontempelli - 105 votes
Sam Walsh - 103 votes