OUTSTANDING young midfielder Clayton Oliver has topped Melbourne’s vote count at this year’s Brownlow Medal, won by Richmond superstar Dustin Martin.

The Tiger won with a record 36 votes, excluding 1976-77, when two umpires awarded separate votes. 

But from a Melbourne perspective, it was Oliver who topped the red and blue tally. 

Oliver started the season strongly, polling in the opening two rounds to eventually finish with 12 votes – three ahead of co-captain Jack Viney and key defender/forward Tom McDonald, who both polled nine votes.

Oliver gained best-on-ground votes in Melbourne’s season-opening win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium and then notched up one vote the following week in its win over Carlton at the MCG.

In total, Oliver polled in seven matches: 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3 (12)

Melbourne started the count in strong form.

In fact, the Demons gained the 3-2-1 in the first two rounds. Along with Oliver’s votes in the first two rounds, Nathan Jones (two votes) and Max Gawn (one) polled against the Saints. The ineligible Christian Salem was named best-on-ground against the Blues, as Dom Tyson managed two votes.

But from rounds three to five, Melbourne’s only vote-getter was Jack Watts, who polled one vote against Geelong at Etihad Stadium in round three.

Melbourne’s win over Essendon at Docklands resulted in a clean sweep of red and blue votes, with Oliver polling one vote, giving him five after six rounds.

Despite going down to Hawthorn at the MCG by three points, Jack Viney claimed three votes.

And he backed it up again the following round with another best-on-ground performance in Melbourne’s stunning 69-point turnaround against the Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval.

After the umpires named Tom McDonald best-on-ground against Essendon – the first votes of his career – he gained two more against the Crows. Oliver polled another vote, giving him six from four matches.

All-Australian Michael Hibberd gained his first vote for Melbourne in its round nine loss to North Melbourne at the MCG.

When Melbourne bounced back with its first win in Alice Springs in round 10 – a victory over the Gold Coast Suns – Nathan Jones secured three votes and Jeff Garlett two.

After having a bye in round 11, Melbourne recorded a thrilling win over Collingwood at the MCG on Queen’s Birthday. But Christian Petracca, who gained two votes, was the only Demon to feature in the votes.

In rounds 13 and 14, Melbourne produced two of its best wins for the season, which produced all red and blue votes.

Hibberd gained three against the Western Bulldogs, while T.McDonald and younger brother Oscar McDonald received two votes and one respectively.

And when Jack Viney got three in Melbourne’s epic win over West Coast and T.McDonald got another two for his five-goal performance and match-winning goal, the duo had nine votes each – equal most for Melbourne after 14 rounds.

Tyson also gained a vote against West Coast, meaning Melbourne got 3-2-1 in rounds 13 and 14.   

From rounds 15 to 17, Melbourne only gained votes via Oliver, who landed another two. And when he secured one more in Melbourne’s win over Port Adelaide at the MCG in round 18, he had nine votes – equal with T.McDonald and Viney.

Hibberd gained another best-on-ground, this time against the Power.

In round 19, Oliver gained three votes in Melbourne’s disappointing loss to North Melbourne in Hobart. It gave him 12 votes, which put him in front, from a Melbourne perspective, for the rest of the count.

Gawn gained two votes against the Giants in the nation’s capital, during Melbourne’s round 20 loss.

Cam Pedersen gained votes in consecutive weeks in rounds 21 and 22 (best-on-ground against St Kilda and one against the Brisbane Lions), while Jesse Hogan gained Melbourne’s last lot of three votes for the season against the Lions. Jones got two more against the Saints to finish with seven votes.

Round 1 v St Kilda

  1. Clayton Oliver (Melb), 2. Nathan Jones (Melb), 1. Max Gawn (Melb)

Round 2 v Carlton

  1. Christian Salem* (Melb), 2. Dom Tyson (Melb), 1. Clayton Oliver (Melb)

Round 3 v Geelong Cats

  1. Joel Selwood (Geel), 2. Patrick Dangerfield* (Geel), 1. Jack Watts (Melb)

Round 4 v Fremantle

  1. Lachie Neale (Fre), 2. Nat Fyfe (Fre), 1. David Mundy (Fre)

Round 5 v Richmond

  1. Jack Riewoldt (Rich), 2. Toby Nankervis* (Rich), 1. Dustin Martin (Rich)

Round 6 v Essendon

  1. T.McDonald (Melb), 2. J.Lewis* (Melb), 1. Clayton Oliver (Melb)

Round 7 v Hawthorn

  1. Jack Viney (Melb), 2. Ben McEvoy (Haw), 1. Tom Mitchell (Haw)

Round 8 v Adelaide Crows

  1. J.Viney (Melb), 2. Tom McDonald (Melb), 1. Clayton Oliver (Melb)

Round 9 v North Melbourne

  1. Ben Brown (NM), 2. Ben Cunnington* (NM), 1. Michael Hibberd (Melb)

Round 10 v Gold Coast Suns

  1. Nathan Jones (Melb), 2. Jeff Garlett (Melb), 1. Aaron Hall (GCS)

Round 11

Bye

Round 12 v Collingwood

  1. Steele Sidebottom (Coll), 2. Christian Petracca (Melb), 1. Brodie Grundy (Coll)

Round 13 v Western Bulldogs

  1. Michael Hibberd (Melb), 2. T.McDonald (Melb), 1. Oscar McDonald (Melb)

Round 14 v West Coast Eagles

  1. Jack Viney (Melb), 2. Tom McDonald (Melb), 1. Dom Tyson (Melb)

Round 15 v Sydney Swans

  1. Luke Parker (SS), 2. Lance Franklin (SS), 1. Josh Kennedy (SS)

Round 16 v Carlton

  1. Kade Simpson (Carl), 2. Clayton Oliver (Melb), 1. Marc Murphy (Carl)

Round 17 v Adelaide Crows

  1. Tom Lynch (Ade), 2. Rory Laird (Ade), 1. Brad Crouch (Ade)

Round 18 v Port Adelaide

  1. Michael Hibberd (Melb), 2. Travis Boak (PA), 1. Clayton Oliver (Melb)

Round 19 v North Melbourne

  1. Clayton Oliver (Melb), 2. Ben Brown (NM), 1. Shaun Higgins (NM)

Round 20 v GWS Giants

  1. Josh Kelly (GWS), 2. Max Gawn (Melb), 1. Callan Ward (GWS)

Round 21 v St Kilda

  1. Cam Pedersen (Melb), 2. Nathan Jones (Melb), 1. Jack Billings (St K)

Round 22 v Brisbane Lions

  1. Jesse Hogan (Melb), 2. Dayne Beams (BL), 1. Cam Pedersen (Melb)

Round 23 v Collingwood

  1. Will Hoskin-Elliott (Coll), 2. Taylor Adams (Coll), 1. Jamie Elliott (Coll)

Melbourne votes in 2017 Brownlow Medal

Clayton Oliver – 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3 (12)

Jack Viney – 3, 3, 3 (9)

Tom McDonald – 3, 2, 2, 2 (9)

Michael Hibberd – 1, 3, 3 (7)

Nathan Jones – 2, 3, 2 (7)

Cam Pedersen – 3, 1 (4)

Jesse Hogan – 3 (3)

Max Gawn – 1, 2 (3)

Dom Tyson – 2, 1 (3)

Christian Salem* – 3 (3)

Jeff Garlett – 2 (2)

Christian Petracca – 2 (2)

Jordan Lewis* – 2 (2)

Oscar McDonald – 1 (1)

Jack Watts – 1 (1)