Following the outcome of last year's recording-breaking count, it's seemingly harder than ever to predict how the Brownlow Medal race will unfold.
The 2024 count saw the previous single-season votes record under the 3-2-1 format shattered by two players, with Carlton captain Patrick Cripps going on to claim his second Brownlow with a staggering 45 votes.
Cripps will again be a leading contender for this year's award but will have plenty of competition from some of the game's household names.
Here we name seven leading options for the 2025 Brownlow Medal and a further three who could make a late charge.
2. Nick Daicos
The mercurial Magpies star will be hard to beat this year in what will be just his fourth campaign for Collingwood.
Daicos managed a would-have-been record 38 votes last year to fall to winner Patrick Cripps, backing up his 28 votes from the year before bring his career tally to 77 votes from 65 career games.
That average (1.18 votes per game) is currently the highest in league history, coming ahead of Haydn Bunton's career average of 1.04 votes per game.
Of the 34 games Daicos has polled votes in, half of those netted him threes, with the ace midfielder often a standout in wins, draws and even losses.
No player polled in more games last year than Daicos either, with the father-son gun managing to add to his season total in 18 of his 23 appearances.
With a more favourable fixture, another pre-season under his belt and a list ready to compete again, Daicos firms as the early Brownlow favourite.
