The flying finish to the 2014 home-and-away season by Richmond star Brett Deledio clearly didn’t go unnoticed by the field umpires.

Deledio missed four games early in the year with an Achilles injury, and was still struggling with the complaint for a while when he returned to the playing field.

As his fitness levels increased, however, so, too, did his ability to impact games.

Bid on 2014 Richmond signed match-worn guernseys, including Brett Deledio’s

During the finals rounds of the season, as the Tigers were charging towards the finals, he was in superb touch in his new, permanent high half-forward role.

In last night’s 2014 Brownlow Medal count, Deledio received 11 votes in the last six rounds of the season, to finish with 12 all-up.

It was the second-best Brownlow polling performance of his 10-year league career (his best was 13 votes in 2012).

Richmond’s young gun midfielder, Dustin Martin, also recorded the second-highest tally of Brownlow votes in his five-year stint at the game’s highest level, with 13 votes, which followed his best return of 16 votes in 2013.  Martin now has 52 Brownlow votes all-up.

On a club-by-club basis in the 2014 Brownlow Medal count, Richmond had the equal-second most players poll 10 votes or more – Deledio, 12, Martin, 13 and captain Trent Cotchin, 18.

Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Fremantle, Geelong and Adelaide also had three players finish with 10 votes or more.

Premiership favourite Sydney had the most players poll 10 votes or more, with five.