Andrew Gaff has become the West Coast Eagles fifth Brownlow Medal centurion as Tim Kelly and Dom Sheed headed an Eagles tally in a sometimes curious 2020 vote count on Sunday night.

Kelly and Sheed polled 11 votes apiece to top the Eagles vote from Gaff (eight), Elliot Yeo (eight), Luke Shuey (six), Josh Kennedy (six), Nic Naitanui (five) and first-time voter Oscar Allen (five).

Completing the Eagles votes were Tom Barrass (three), Jeremy McGovern (two) and Liam Ryan (one).

This took Gaff’s career total to an even 100 votes and sees him trail only Matt Priddis (149), Ben Cousins (141), Peter Matera (126) and Daniel Kerr (114) on the club’s all-time vote list.

Yeo’s eight votes took him to 52 votes and into the Eagles 50-plus club with Chris Judd (94), Shuey (91), Kennedy (82), Guy McKenna (79), Dean Cox (71), Chris Mainwaring (68), Glen Jakovich (65) and Dean Kemp (53).

Gaff, with three two-vote ratings and three one-vote ratings, polled most often among Eagles players with six from Sheed and Kelly (five). Sheed, judged best afield in rounds one, nine and 18, polled most three-vote ratings.

Sheed and Kelly topped the West Coast vote count for the first time, becoming the 18^th and 19^th players to do so in the club’s 34^th year in the AFL.

Cousins (six), Priddis (five), Peter Matera (four) and Kerr (three) have between them headed the club vote count 18 times while Mainwaring (two), McKenna (two) and Gaff (two) are the only other multiples.

Other one-time leading vote-getters have been Ross Glendinning, Steve Malaxos, Craig Turley, Glen Jakovich, Dean Kemp, Chris Judd, Mark LeCras, Scott Selwood, Kennedy and Yeo.

But the two overriding questions among Eagles fans and possibly coach Adam Simpson to emerge from the 2020 virtual Brownlow vote count will focus on the low vote tally of Naitanui and Ryan.

If votes allocated 5-4-3-2-1 by each coach after each game in the AFL Coach’s Association Player of the Year are converted to indicate 3-2-1 Brownlow votes Naitanui could have expected to poll 12 votes and head the Eagles tally from Ryan (9.5), Kelly (8.5) and Kennedy (7.5).

Naitanui was forecast to head the Eagles count under the conversion – he finished equal seventh.

Also, the conversion suggested Shuey, Yeo and Allen would not poll at all. They polled 19 votes.

There were four screaming examples which suggest Naitanui and Ryan were short-changed.

In round five against Sydney, Naitanui was given maximum votes by both coaches and yet received only one Brownlow vote behind Yeo (three) and Allen (two).

In round nine against Geelong, Naitanui again received maximum votes from both coaches but polled only two Brownlow votes behind Sheed, who did not figure at all in the coaches votes.

In round 15 against Essendon, Ryan was given maximum votes by both coaches and did not receive a vote in the Brownlow. Barrass and Kelly did not get a vote from the coaches but Barrass polled three Brownlow votes to head Essendon’s Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (two) and Kelly (one).

And in round 18 against North Melbourne, when Ryan headed the coaches votes with nine from North’s Jed Anderson (six) and Jy Simpkin (five), Allen picked up one, the Brownlow votes went to Sheed (three), Allen (two) and North’s Luke Davies-Uniacke (one). That despite Sheed and Davies-Uniacke not polling with the coaches.

There were other games, too, in which the votes didn’t match up well.

Barrass, who got three votes when he might not have expected any in round 15, didn’t get any votes in round 12 against Hawthorn when he got maximum votes from the coaches. Instead, the umpires gave three votes to Shuey, who did not poll with the coaches.

Barrass’ three-vote rating in round 15 quadrupled his career tally. The now 83-game defender polled his only other vote in his 12^th game in 2016.

In round six against Adelaide, when Kelly picked up 10 coaches votes and three Brownlow votes, Jeremy McGovern was rated second-best by the coaches with seven votes but didn’t poll in the Brownlow.

In round 11 against Carlton, when Sheed received 10 votes from the coaches and Naitanui eight votes both missed out completely in the Brownlow, when the votes went to Yeo (three), Kelly (two) and Carlton’s Liam Jones (one).

And in round 13 against GWS, when the coaches went McGovern (10), Naitanui (seven) and GWS’ Josh Kelly (seven) the umpires went Kelly (three), McGovern (two) and Gaff (one).

Allen, without a vote in 23 games before this season, polled three times. He also got one vote in round 8 against Collingwood on top of his votes in round five and round 18.

Round 1 v Melbourne: Dom Sheed (WC) 3, Andrew Gaff (WC), 2, Jack Viney (M) 1.
Round 2 v Gold Coast: Matt Rowell (GC) 3, Sam Day (GC) 2, Luke Shuey (WC) 1.
Round 3 v Brisbane: Lachie Neale (B) 3, Hugh McCluggage (B) 2, Andrew Gaff (WC) 1.
Round 4 v Port Adel: Charlie Dixon (PA) 3, Justin Westhoff (PA) 2, Hamish Hartlett (PA) 1.
Round 5 v Sydney: Elliot Yeo (WC) 3, Oscar Allen (WC) 2, Nic Naitanui (WC) 1.
Round 6 v Adelaide: Tim Kelly (WC) 3, Dom Sheed (WC) 2, Bean Keays (A) 1.
Round 7 v Fremantle: Josh Kennedy (WC) 3, Elliot Yeo (WC) 2, Andrew Gaff (WC) 1.
Round 8 v Collingwood: Josh Kennedy (WC) 3, Tim Kelly (2), Oscar Allen (1).
Round 9 v Geelong: Dom Sheed (WC) 3, Nic Naitanui (WC) 2, Tom Stewart (Geel) 1.
Round 11 v Carlton: Elliot Yeo (WC) 3, Tim Kelly (WC) 2, Liam Jones (Carl) 1.
Round 12 v Hawthorn: Luke Shuey (WC) 3, Andrew Gaff (2), Liam Ryan (WC) 1.
Round 13 v GWS: Josh Kelly (GWS) 3, Jeremy McGovern (WC) 2, Andrew Gaff (1).
Round 14 v Richmond: Trent Cotchin (R) 3, Luke Shuey (WC) 2, Bacher Houli (R) 1.
Round 15 v Essendon: Tom Barrass (E) 3, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (E) 2, Tim Kelly (WC) 1.
Round 16 v W/Bulldogs: Josh Dunkley (WB) 3, Jack Macrae (WB) 2, Marcus Bontempelli (WB) 1.
Round 17 v StKilda: Tim Kelly (WC) 3, Nic Naitanui (WC) 2, Andrew Gaff (WC) 1.
Round 18 v North Melb: Dom Sheed (WC) 3, Oscar Allen (WC) 2, Luke Davies-Uniacke (NM) 1.