Errol Gulden has blown up the Sydney Swans Brownlow Medal record books, polling more times in a season than any player in club history.
And at 21, just 67 games into his career, Gulden, who featured in the count 12 times, has posted the third-highest single-season vote tally in club history to finish equal fourth in the 2023 Brownlow.
A stunning burst in which he polled in seven games in a row and nine times in 10 games saw him head the Swans tally with 27 votes – four behind Brisbane winner Lachie Neale.
After polling five votes in the first 13 games to rank equal 46th on the leaderboard, Gulden polled 3-3-2-3-1-3-3 from Rounds 15-21, and after missing out in Round 22 finished 3-1 in Rounds 23-24 to finish equal fourth.
Since 1984, when full details of round-by-round voting have been available, Gulden’s seven-game polling streak has been bettered in the same season by only five players.
Polling in eight games in a row were Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield in 2017 and Joel Selwood in 2010, St Kilda’s Nick Dal Santo in 2011 and West Coast’s Chris Judd 2007, and in 2012 by Essendon’s Jobe Watson when he topped the count but was later disqualified due to the club’s drug scandal.
Drafted by the Swans with pick #32 in 2020, Gulden served early notice of his Brownlow potential when he polled two votes for 19 possessions and three goals on debut against Brisbane in 2021.
Now three seasons into his career, having picked up three votes in 2022, he has a total of 32 votes – more than the combined 26 votes of the other 87 players taken in his draft year. Next best is the Bulldogs’ #1 pick Jamara Ugle-Hagen (7), Collingwood’s Jack Ginnivan (4) and Geelong’s Ollie Henry (3) and Max Holmes (3).
Gulden (27) headed the Swans’ 2023 count from Chad Warner (16) and Luke Parker (10), while Nick Blakey (5), Tom Papley (4), Joel Amartey (4), Callum Mills (3), Isaac Heeney (2), Will Hayward (1), Hayden McLean (1) and Dane Rampe (1) gave the club a total of 75 votes.
They ranked eighth on the club-by-club leaderboard behind Collingwood (93), Brisbane (92), Melbourne (89), Port Adelaide (86), Western Bulldogs (81), Carlton (78) and Adelaide (77), and ahead of St Kilda (73), GWS (71), Fremantle (67), Richmond (65), Essendon (59), Gold Coast (57), Hawthorn (57), Geelong (55), North Melbourne (39) and West Coast (28).
Using September 30 each year as an anchor point for age comparisons, Gulden, aged 21 years and 74 days at that time this year, is the second-youngest Swans player to poll 20 votes in a season behind Bob Skilton’s 20 votes in 1959 at 20 years 326 days. Ron Clegg was 21 years 317 days in 1949 when he polled 23 votes.
Only Herbie Matthews, who polled 32 votes in 1940 to share the medal with Collingwood’s Des Fothergill, and Graham Teasdale, who polled the equivalent of 29.5 votes to win in 1977, have bettered Gulden’s 27-vote season.
Teasdale polled 59 votes under a system when two umpires voted 3-2-1 independently, thereby making for twice as many votes. This equates to 29.5 on an adjusted basis.
Adam Goodes (2006) and Parker (2016) polled 26 votes, Peter Bedford (1970) and Josh Kennedy (2015) polled 25 votes, Bob Skilton (1968) and Dan Hannebery (2015) polled 24 votes.
Six Swans have polled 11 times in a season – Bedford (1970), Paul Kelly (1995), Goodes (2003), Kennedy (2015), Hannebery (2015) and Teasdale (1977), when he polled 22 times under the two-umpire voting system.
In other highlights from the Swans’ 2023 count:
Parker’s 10 votes took his career total to 152 and saw him jump Kennedy (146) into third spot on the Swans’ all-time vote list. He now trails only Skilton (180) and Goodes (163). Completing the top 10 are Clegg (121), Matthews (117), Hannebery (106), Lance Franklin (104), Kelly (103) and Round (90).
Warner, pick #39 in the 2019 National Draft, polled 16 votes this year after 12 votes in 2022 for a three-season total of 29. This ranks him third among the Draft Class of 2019 behind Gold Coast’s Noah Anderson (44) and Fremantle’s Caleb Serong (35) and ahead of GWS’ Tom Green (26) and Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell (25).
Joel Amartey polled his first votes in his 14th game in Round 2 this year, when he kicked four goals against Hawthorn at the SCG before being subbed out of the game for Matt Roberts.
Logan McDonald polled his first vote in the same game – his 26th – when he kicked a career-high five goals in an 81-point win.
Harry Cunningham’s 12th season without a vote despite a standout performance against Brisbane in Round 4 when he shut down Charlie Cameron leaves him equal seventh on the AFL’s ‘most games – no votes’ list. He’s played 173 games in which votes were awarded to sit alongside ex-Collingwood/St Kilda defender Nathan Brown behind ex-Bulldogs/Collingwood utility Jordan Roughead (193), Sydney’s Nick Smith and Geelong’s Tom Lonergan (191), Hawthorn’s Ben Stratton (183), Adelaide’s Luke Brown (182), and Hawthorn/Bulldogs utility Taylor Duryea (176).
