'It was wild': Sheepish Brownlow winner 'feels for' Pie

Brownlow Medal winner Lachie Neale says he feels for Magpies youngster Nick Daicos after he was edged in the closing stages of the vote count.

With 31 votes, Neale held off Daicos (28) and a fast-finishing Marcus Bontempelli (29) to claim the AFL's highest individual honour as this season's fairest and best player.

Daicos was in control for the majority of the count after a mid-season streak saw the second-year player poll maximum votes in four consecutive games.

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However, a knee injury during Collingwood's round 21 loss to Hawthorn saw Daicos sidelined for the remainder of the regular season and unable to poll in the last three rounds.

The final round began with Neale placed equal first with Daicos on 28 before Bontempelli leapt into first with three votes against the Cats.

With the last vote card of the evening, Neale's best-on-ground performance against the Saints shot him to the top of the leaderboard and earned him a second "Charlie".

Speaking ahead of the Lions' opening training session on Tuesday, Neale admitted that Daicos' injury derailed his Brownlow hopes.

"I want to give a shoutout to Nick Daicos," he told media.

"He's had such an amazing season so far and it hasn't finished for him yet either.

"If it wasn't for his injury I think the medal would have been his and he would have been a thoroughly deserving winner.

"I feel for Nick, he's had so much pressure and intensity and scrutiny on him this year and the way that he's performed has been amazing to watch and I feel for him.

"His injury probably cost him a Brownlow Medal but I'm sure he'll be in amongst it for the next 15 years."

Neale also acknowledged Bontempelli's form this season.

"He had an amazing year once again and he's such a great player to watch. He's one of my favourites to watch," he said.

"I do feel a little bit for those two."

Owing to his unexpected win, Neale on Monday night said he was "rattled" and eight hours later affirmed that his achievement still had not sunk in.

"It was an interesting year. I feel like our team performed so evenly throughout the year, especially as midfielders and midfielders tend to pole most of the votes," he said.

"As a group, we performed quite well and I didn't really know how it would play out. I thought I had my moments, I had some strong games where I thought I would pole and then there were a lot of games where they could have gone to anyone and luckily for me, it fell my way.

"Throughout the night there were six or seven games where I could have polled one, two, three or none and I was lucky enough that I got enough to win the medal but it speaks volumes for our group.

"I honestly didn't think I'd be in this position. It was a crazy vote count, wasn't it? It was wild, so I'm just fortunate it fell my way in the end.

The result and some of the vote cards have since drawn criticism, with Neale saying he was "surprised" by some of the umpires' choices.

"I think that's the beauty of the Brownlow though," he said.

"There were probably games where I thought I would pole a bit later, like through the middle part of the season, where I didn't pick up votes or polled one and thought I might get two or three that game.

"So, I think it comes around, swings and roundabouts and I was lucky to pole [against the Giants in round six] but maybe unlucky in others so I don't really know.

"You never know how the umpires are going to vote."

Having won the 2020 Brownlow Medal with 31 votes from only 17 games during the COVID-impacted season, Neale becomes the 16th player in VFL/AFL history to take home "Charlie" twice.

While in the same class as Nat Fyfe, Gary Ablett Jr., Chris Judd and Adam Goodes to name a few, Neale refused the connection.

"I don't think I'm in that company," he said.

"I'm very lucky and fortunate to have my name amongst them with this award but I don't see myself with those guys in terms of status of the game.

"They're hall of famers all of those guys and, yeah, I don't really see myself in amongst that echelon of players."