The Australian Football League's men's captains meet today to share their annual poll of expectations for 2022's top gongs, with Melbourne and Brisbane expected to play off in the grand final.
11 of the 18 captains believed Melbourne and Brisbane would face off, with the Western Bulldogs (three votes) and Richmond and Port Adelaide (2 votes each) the other fancies.
Adelaide, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Gold Coast, North Melbourne and West Coast were unanimously ruled out of finals action, although St Kilda had 1 vote as potential September participants.
This year’s Brownlow Medal favourite among the captains is the Western Bulldogs' Marcus Bontempelli (eight votes) ahead of Melbourne's Clayton Oliver (four votes).
Stung by their collective failure to tip him as the 2021 winner, Harry McKay is favoured to win the Coleman Medal ahead of Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron while 7 captains picked North Melbourne's Jason Horne-Francis to claim the Ron Evans Medal as the NAB AFL Rising Star. Last year, none tipped the winner, Melbourne's Luke Jackson.
Horne-Francis was the number 1 draft pick in the 2021 AFL draft and kept 'grounded' in his day job whilst playing for South Adelaide stacking milk crates alongside Adelaide Crows legend Tony Modra.
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