Carlton captain Patrick Cripps and Collingwood star Nick Daicos are the standout favourites for Monday's Brownlow Medal count.

Defying predictions of a tight count, and counter-intuitively to a season in which so little separated so many – and so often – Carlton superstar...

Defying predictions of a tight count, and counter-intuitively to a season in which so little separated so many – and so often – Carlton superstar...

Defying predictions of a tight count, and counter-intuitively to a season in which so little separated so many – and so often – Carlton superstar...

Patrick Cripps and Nick Daicos are the biggest roadblocks in Lachie Neale’s path to Brownlow immortality, but the spectre of Isaac Heeney’s...

Patrick Cripps and Nick Daicos are the biggest roadblocks in Lachie Neale’s path to Brownlow immortality, but the spectre of Isaac Heeney’s...

Patrick Cripps is awarded the Brownlow Medal after amassing 45 votes.

Patrick Cripps is awarded the Brownlow Medal after amassing 45 votes.

Patrick Cripps is awarded the Brownlow Medal after amassing 45 votes.

The Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius – faster, higher, stronger – might well apply to Carlton’s dual Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps.