Keep a close watch on Shai Bolton’s vote polling in Sunday night’s 2022 Brownlow Medal count.
I am expecting the brilliant, young, Richmond dual premiership star to poll extremely well in the game’s most prestigious individual award.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he passed the 20-vote mark on the night, given his string of eye-catching performances throughout the season.
Bolton, who played all 22 home-and-away games, alternating between the forward line and midfield, kicked multiple goals in a match 15 times and racked up 20 disposals or more on seven occasions.
He finished with 43 goals for the season, as well as 41 behinds, and had an impressive 54 centre clearances.
Those 84 shots for goal are the most by a player who also had 50-plus centre clearances in a season.
The only other AFL players to achieve the 40-goal/50-centre clearance double in a season, since Champion Data started collating those statistics more than 20 years ago, are Gary Ablett Jr with Geelong in 2010, Port Adelaide’s Robbie Gray in 2014, Patrick Dangerfield with the Cats in 2017 and Essendon’s Jake Stringer in 2021.
Throughout the 2022 season, Bolton averaged 17.5 disposals, 9.2 contested possessions, 1.9 goals, 3.6 clearances, 2.4 centre clearances, 4.3 inside-50s, 7.5 score involvements and 361.1 metres gained per game.
Competition-wide, he was ranked fourth for score involvements and third for bounces.
His ability to kick goals, many of them spectacular ones, combined with helping set up scoring opportunities for teammates, as well as bursting from centre bounces to send the Tigers deep into attack, surely must have captured the attention of the field umpires.
What reinforces my opinion that Bolton will rack up 20-plus Brownlow votes on Sunday night is the fact he polled nine votes – three best-on-grounds – in the abbreviated 2020 season (15 home-and-away games for him that year).
It is entirely possible he will double that number of three votes this time, putting him right up there among the leading contenders on the night.
