PORT ADELAIDE vice-captain Zak Butters has finished third in the 2024 Brownlow Medal count on Monday night, following a stellar campaign for the Power.
Butters registered a career-best 29 votes to lead his side, with Carlton's Patrick Cripps running away the victor with a record 45 votes, followed by Collingwood's Nick Daicos (who's 38 votes also broke the previous record and would've seen him take Charlie home at any other count in the Brownlow's 100-year history).
Cripps becomes the 17th player to win multiple Brownlow Medals, adding to his 2022 success and joining Greg Williams and Chris Judd as multiple winners at the Baggers, albeit their first Brownlow victories were claimed at Sydney and West Coast respectively.
Butters night got off to a sluggish start, polling just four votes through the first five rounds, before charging home with votes in seven of the last eight games, including five first preferences and a hatrick of three vote games between Rounds 17 to 19.
After a breakout season in 2023, Butters continued his strong form in Port Adelaide's engine room gathering 27.1 disposals, 4.9 clearances and 4.1 tackles per contest.
His 2024 campaign had already been marked with a second All-Australian blazer, as well as being voted the AFL Players' Association Most Courageous Player by his peers for the second year running.
A total of nine Port Adelaide players polled a total of 84 votes.
Jason Horne-Francis received a career-high 19 votes. while Connor Rozee's 12 votes rounded out the Power's top three. Veteran midfielder Ollie Wines, who owned the record for most votes in a single season with 36 prior to Cripps' exploits, also received 11 votes.
In other awards announced on the night, Collingwood livewire Bobby Hill was awarded the Four’N Twenty Mark of the Year for his high leap against North Melbourne in Round 14, and the rebel Goal of the Year was awarded to West Coast's Harley Reid for his burst through the corridor in Round 10 against Narrm.
The Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award was won by Adelaide's Riley O'Brien for his work advocating for mental health awareness with young people.
O'Brien receives $40,000 to be donated to the charity or community program of his choice.
