Crows defender Rory Laird has finished as Adelaide’s top vote-getter at the AFL’s 2018 Brownlow Medal count at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium on Monday evening.
Laird polled 19 votes to finish equal-sixth overall and sat on the podium for the majority of the night alongside Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell and Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom.
Mitchell and Sidebottom exchanged the lead on multiple occasions, before the Hawk’s superb stretch between Rounds 18 and 20 saw the ball magnet accumulate seven votes in three weeks.
Those votes allowed Mitchell to build an unassailable lead and claim the AFL’s highest individual accolade with 28 votes ahead of Sidebottom (24 votes) and Melbourne midfielder Angus Brayshaw (21).
ROUND-BY-ROUND: Brownlow voting
Laird made a strong start to the count with three best-on-ground performances in the opening six rounds, equalling his 2017 final tally (nine votes) in this period.
The reigning Adelaide Club Champion opened his account with three votes in the Round Two win over Richmond at Adelaide Oval.
He polled another three in Adelaide’s gutsy win over Sydney and backed up with three more in his side’s victory over Gold Coast in Round Six.
The dual All Australian moved to double figures the following week and led the Brownlow Medal race for a brief moment in Round Nine after scoring two votes against the Western Bulldogs, before Sidebottom’s maximum votes later in the round allowed the Magpie to leapfrog the Crow.
At the half-way point of the 2018 #Brownlow medal count, Rory Laird sits inside the top five.
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) September 24, 2018
16 - S. Sidebottom (Coll)
14 - T. Mitchell (Haw)
14 - N. Fyfe (Fre)*
12 - R. Laird (Adel)
10 - J. Macrae (WB)#weflyasone pic.twitter.com/v8bSwIyqhi
Laird did not poll again until Round 15, earning two in Adelaide’s comeback win over West Coast to keep himself in touch within five votes of the Brownlow leaders.
But while Mitchell was adding threes to his account, Laird could only accumulate a pair of single votes against Geelong and Brisbane.
A best-on-ground performance in the Round 22 win over North Melbourne put Laird back into the top three at the conclusion of the round.
However, zero votes in the final game of the season relegated Laird to sixth with Brayshaw (three votes), Carlton midfielder Patrick Cripps (two) and Demons ruckman Max Gawn (two) jumping above the defender on the final leaderboard.
Last year’s winner Dustin Martin also had two votes in Round 23 to share the sixth position with Laird.
Polished midfielder Bryce Gibbs was Adelaide’s next-best player in the count with nine votes.
Gibbs earned two votes in his first game in
2017 Club Champion Matt Crouch recorded eight votes, all of which came in the final six weeks of the season including three-vote performances against Brisbane and Port Adelaide.
Wayne Milera Junior scored his first career Brownlow vote for his 33 disposals against Gold Coast in Round Six and picked up another later in the season while returning defender Brodie Smith polled two votes in his second game back from a knee reconstruction in Round 21.
Junior with his first of hopefully many Brownlow votes, and another three for Lairdy against the Suns!
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) September 24, 2018
Round Six v Gold Coast
3 – R. Laird (Adel)
2 – D. Swallow (GC)
1 – W. Milera (Adel)#Brownlow #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/2AIgjVAOto
BROWNLOW MEDAL TOP 10
28 – Tom Mitchell (Haw)
24 – Steele Sidebottom (Coll)
21 – Angus Brayshaw (Melb)
20 – Patrick Cripps (Carl)
20 - Max Gawn (Melb)
19 – Rory Laird (Adel)
19 – Dustin Martin (Rich)
18 – Dayne Beams (Bris)
18 – Jack Steven (STK)
17 – Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)
17 – Brodie Grundy (Coll)
CROWS BROWNLOW LEADERBOARD
19 – Rory Laird
9 – Bryce Gibbs
8 – Matt Crouch
6 – Rory Sloane
5 – Taylor Walker*
3 – Sam Jacobs
3 – Rory Atkins
3 – Richard Douglas*
3 – Josh Jenkins
2 – Paul Seedsman
2 – Mitch McGovern
2 – Hugh Greenwood
2 – Wayne Milera Junior
1 – Eddie Betts
1 – Brodie Smith
* Ineligible
