Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell are set to lead the club vote-count in the 2024 Brownlow Medal on Monday night.

And, if the round-by-round votes in the AFL Coach’s Champion Player Award are any sort of guide, Bodhi Uwland, Mac Andrew, Will Powell and Bailey Humphrey could poll in the Brownlow for the first time.

All this is assumed after a conversion of the 5-4-3-2-1 votes awarded by each coach after each game, and converted to notional 3-2-1 Brownlow votes. Or ‘Coachlow’ Medal votes.

According to the ‘Coachlow’, Rowell will top the SUNS vote with 18 votes and finish 10^th overall, and Anderson will poll 17 votes to finish 15^th.

This would be only the third time two SUNS players have finished top 20 after Gary Ablett (22 votes) and Dion Prestia (13) finished equal 3^rd and equal 20^th respectively in 2014, and co-captain Touk Miller (27 votes) and Anderson (14) were 3^rd and equal 13^th in 2022.

It would be the fifth time two SUNS have polled in double-figures. The other two previously have been in 2017, when Ablett polled 14 votes and Aaron Hall 10, and last year, when Anderson polled 22 and Rowell 12.

Other SUNS who polled in the notional ‘Coachlow’ were Sam Flanders (7.5), Andrew (6.5), Miller (5), Powell (3.5), Jarrod Witts (3.5), Club Champion Sam Collins (2.5), Ben King (2), Uwland (1) and Humphrey (1).

And according to the ‘Coachlow’, the SUNS will poll the maximum six votes in eight games – six at People First Stadium and two in Darwin – in Rounds 0-1-5-7-9-10-12-18.

Rowell (3) and Powell (2) will get the SUNS away in Opening Round, when they beat Richmond by 39 points at People First Stadium. Rowell had 33 possessions (26 contested) and an astonishing 20 clearances for a maximum 10 votes from the coaches, while Powell had 28 possessions for eight votes. Co-captains Touk Miller and Jarrod Witts split the minor votes.

It was Powell’s 88^th game, and if it does deliver his first Brownlow votes it will end the second-longest wait in SUNS history among players who have polled. He would slot in ahead of Alex Sexton (96) and behind Charlie Ballard (62), Sam Day (57) and Ben Ainsworth (55).

Eight SUNS players have polled inside their first 10 games – Izak Rankine on debut, Rowell and Brayden Fiorini (2^nd game), Brandon Matera (4^th), Adam Saad (5^th), Zac Smith and Jeremy Sharp (6^th), and Aaron Hall, Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Nicholls (8^th).

In Round 1 the coaches couldn’t split Rowell, Miller and Anderson in the PFS clash with Adelaide, when the SUNS hung on in a tight finish. Rowell just missed a triple double, with 29 possessions (20 contested), 10 tackles and nine clearances to go with a goal, while Anderson had 35 possessions and a goal.

Miller, too, fell one tackle short of a triple double, with 29 possessions, nine tackles and 10 tackles. Sam Flanders (35 possessions) and Adelaide’s Matt Crouch (33 possessions) and Rory Laird (30 possessions, 10 tackles) could also figure in the votes.

Don’t expect any votes in Round 2, when the SUNS fell to the Dogs in Ballarat, but after the Round 3 bye Andrew could feature for the first time in Gather Round. He had 24 possessions and 10 marks in defence to split the coaches votes with GWS veterans Toby Greene and Stephen Coniglio in the Giants 28-point win at Norwood. It was Andrew’s 22^nd game.

The SUNS’ 53-point Round 5 win over a battling Hawthorn at PFS is likely to deliver six Brownlow votes. According to the coaches, Anderson (36 possessions, one goal, eight tackles) and King (four goals) will get the bulk of them. Collins and Flanders (34 possessions) also polled with the coaches.

After an anticipated wipe in Round 6 against Sydney at the SCG the Round 7 home win by 37 points over West Coast is likely to deliver more votes. Witts, with 18 possessions, a goal, eight tackles, 10 clearances and 46 hit-outs polled the maximum 10 votes with the coaches, while Anderson (33 possessions, two goals) and Rowell (22 possessions, two goals, 13 tackles, nine clearances) are favored for the minor votes.

The first Q-Clash in Round 8 is unlikely to deliver any SUNS votes, but the Round 9-10 double-header in Darwin definitely will. Probably 12 of them. Against North in Round 9  Andrew (22 possessions, 10 marks) and Miller (29 possessions, one goal) shared top votes with the coaches, while Collins is also tipped to poll.

And in Round 10, when the SUNS beat Geelong by 64 points in their best win of the season, Anderson (42 possessions, two goals) and Rowell (35 possessions, one goal, 10 tackles and eight clearances) headed the coaches votes. Humphrey, in his 27^th game, kicked five goals and could pick up his first medal votes.

After a wipe in Round 11 against Carlton the Round 12 win over Essendon at PFS could deliver another SUNS cleansweep, according to the coaches, despite the fact it was only an 11-point win. Rowell (26 possessions, 11 tackles and eight clearances) and Anderson (33 possessions) headed the ‘Coachlow’ votes with the irrepressible Collins, while Flanders (33) and Alex Sexton (30) also dined out.

Round 13 against StKilda at Marvel delivered a heart-breaking three point SUNS loss – and potentially a special moment for Uwland. While Saints Jack Sinclair and Josh Battle received major votes from the coaches, Uwland was next best in his 14^th game, when he had 23 possessions and did a sterling job down back. A chance!

After a Round 14 bye and an anticipated wipe against Fremantle in Perth in Round 15 it was home for the biggest game of the year and one of the best wins in SUNS history against premiers Collingwood.

The SUNS led by 26 points at three-quarter time, were headed 25 minutes into the final term after the Pies kicked the first four goals of the final term. But the SUNS steadied and rallied superbly, and with goals from Ben Long and Ben Ainsworth won by 11 points.

The coaches couldn’t split Anderson (39 possessions, five tackles, six clearances) and Sam Flanders (33 possessions, one goal, six clearances)  and Collingwood’s Nick Daicos (32 possessions, two goals). Ben King kicked four goals, Miller 31 possessions and Ainsworth 28 possessions and two goals.

The alternating ‘votes at home, none away’ trend continued. No votes in a bad loss to North at Marvel before an anticipated six votes in an outstanding 19-point PFS win over Port Adelaide.

Anderson took maximum votes in the ‘Coachlow’ with 29 possessions, a goal and 11 clearances, while Flanders (30 possessions, one goal) and Powell 21 possessions, one goal) shared next best. Zak Butters (35) and Dan Houston (34) were the big ball-winners for Port.

Flanders had a career-best 43 possessions in the Round 19 loss to GWS in Sydney and could feature in the medal votes, although the coaches favored Jesse Hogan (four goals) and Lachie Whitfield (40 possessions).

The second Q-Clash is unlikely to deliver any votes, but in a disappointing Round 21 loss to West Coast in Perth Rowell (30 possessions, nine tackles and clearances) – another near ‘triple double’ – split the coaches votes with the Eagles’ Elliot Yeo. Jake Waterman kicked four for the home side.

Rowell (32 possessions, seven tackles and nine clearances) and match-winner Andrew (13 possessions and four goals) split the major votes in the Round 22 one-point Marvel win over Essendon, when Andrew pulled down a screamer and kicked the winner after the siren.

The big test against Melbourne in the last home game was a big flop and won’t deliver any SUNS votes, but the Round 24 MCG win over Richmond will. And according to the coaches, Flanders (29 possessions, two goals) was best afield from Rowell, who had 29-9-8 in typical near-triple down fashion, and Daniel Rioli, who had 30 possessions and two goals in his 183^rd game for the Tigers.

Instinct says Sam Closehy, so good in his debut season, should figure in the votes somehow despite the fact that he didn’t register in the “Coachlow”. His only coaches votes came in Round 9 in Darwin against North, when he had an equal season-high 23 possessions and an equal season-high two goals.

And if there was to be another ‘bolter’ it could be Jake Rogers in his second game against West Coast in Round 7, when he had 22 possessions, a goal and four goal assists in showing that earned him a Rising Star nomination.

The aggregate ‘Coachlow’ vote was 67.5 votes across 10 players.

This would rank as the second-best total vote in SUNS history behind the 2022 aggregate of 75, when 13 different SUNS players featured in the count and the club finished equal sixth in the aggregate club vote – easily the best result overall.

 The club polled 62 votes to finish 13^th overall in 2013, when 12 players polled.