Carlton captain Patrick Cripps has won his first Brownlow Medal in a thrilling count on Sunday night.

Cripps snatched the lead with three votes for his 35 disposals and 12 clearances in Carlton’s heartbreaking one-point Round 23 loss to Collingwood to win the AFL’s highest individual honour on 29 votes ahead of Brisbane’s Lachie Neale (28 votes) and Gold Coast’s Touk Miller (27).

Neale polled one vote from the umpires in the Lions’ loss to Melbourne and Miller failed to poll a vote in the Suns’ big win over North Melbourne.

Cripps, 27, is the first Blue to win the Brownlow since former skipper Chris Judd in 2010.

Patrick Cripps is the 2022 Brownlow Medallist following one of the closest counts in recent memory 🏅#Brownlowhttps://t.co/3fKf1QhKWY

— AFL (@AFL) September 18, 2022

“Mate, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Cripps said as he accepted the prestigious medal.

“I loved footy growing up as a kid, and I still remember being at boarding school back in WA, and I used to always ask my mum, ‘Make sure you sign me out, give me leave on Brownlow night’, because I used to love watching it.

“My older brother Daniel used to sign me out and we always used to watch it together. Mate, it’s unbelievable.

“I can’t put it into words at the moment but it’s a massive honour and I’m absolutely pumped.”

Fremantle star Andrew Brayshaw finished fourth with Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver on 25 votes but failed to poll in the final three rounds.

Essendon ruckman Sam Draper won goal of the year while Port Adelaide forward Mitch Georgiades claimed mark of the year.

Geelong captain Joel Selwood was awarded the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award.

THE WINNER OF THE 2022 #BROWNLOW MEDAL! pic.twitter.com/DftDyIfsoB

— AFL (@AFL) September 18, 2022

Sunday night’s count, moved from the traditional Monday night time slot due to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, went down to the wire.

But Cripps, in the final announcement of the count, drew the maximum votes for his performance in the one-point loss to Collingwood that ultimately cost the Blues a finals berth.

Overall, Cripps polled in 13 games and earned the maximum three votes seven times.

He arguably could have added a couple more votes to his tally but received just one for his three-goal, 30-disposal effort against Richmond in Round 1.

AFL.com.au reports Cripps made a hot start to lead with 16 votes after Round 8 and turned the count on its head in Round 20 when he collected three votes in Carlton’s loss to Adelaide.

Cripps, who finished third in the 2019 count won by Nat Fyfe, becomes Carlton’s sixth medallist in the club’s history.

The win could be clouded by controversy after Cripps was suspended in Round 21 for two matches for a high bump on Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee, only to successfully overturn the ban at the tribunal.

-AAP