Josh Daicos captured in telling reaction after brother Nick ‘steals’ Brownlow Medal vote

Collingwood star Nick Daicos was motoring towards the Brownlow last year when a knee injury sidelined him for the last three games and ultimately saw him drop from leading the count to third. And in 2024, the race for the Brownlow Medal seemingly was between him and Patrick Cripps. But in the end, it wasn’t even close, as the Carlton star won with a record tally on Monday night.

Cripps polled 45 votes on Monday night, including 12 three-vote games out of the 24 rounds beating Daicos by seven votes – although the Pies young gun’s tally of 38 would have won any other Brownlow count in history. However, many believe Daicos’ tally should have actually been one fewer, with a case of mistaken identity seemingly at play in the Pies’ King’s Birthday clash.

In that game Collingwood’s Jack Crisp polled the three votes as expected, following on from his 10 coaches votes. John Noble was handed two votes and Daicos one. However, both of them were peculiar choices and in the case of Daicos, one where he was almost certainly mistaken for his brother Josh.

According to the AFL Player Ratings, Noble (two votes) was 24th overall, while Daicos (one vote) was 16th. Incredibly Daicos polled despite being subbed out with just 15 disposals in an uncharacteristically quiet game for the Pies star. Meanwhile, his brother Josh was by most accounts the second-best player on the field.

He finished with a game-high 34 disposals, and per the coaches, was the second-best player on the ground (seven coaches votes). Despite this, he didn’t receive a vote.

And as the votes for the King’s Birthday clash were read out on Monday night, his brother Nick was visibly taken aback as his name was called out to receive the one vote. He immediately looked over to his brother Josh, who pointed at himself, asking the table if he heard correctly that it was his brother who was awarded the point and not him. And the AFL world was equally stunned by what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.