Twelve rounds in, and a youd need a dozen votes right now to be in with a chance if the last 5 years are anything to go by.  Cousins, Goodes, Bartel, Cooney and Ablett each had 13, 12, 17, 19 & 19 after 12 rounds in each of their Brownlow winning years - which gives us 5 main candidates who could take it out in 2010:

5th. Michael Barlow (FREM) - 12 votes, 15/1
Started his first season with a bang, picking up 11 votes in the first 6 games, but has managed just one in the same time since then.  You would expect him to slow down as the year goes on, so hard to see the young fella winning it from here - but a magnificent first year by any standards.

4th. Brendon Goddard (ST.K) - 13 votes, 9/1
Has become St Kildas most important player in Nick Riewoldts absence, and is enjoying a rich vein of form at the moment, polling in each of the last 4 games.  A chance to win it, but will need a few things to go his way from here.

3rd. Gary Ablett Jnr (GEEL) - 14 votes, 3.75/1
Whilst Geelong seem to stay ahead of the pack to remain the clear best team in the comp, there is no doubt that Gary has fallen back to the pack.  His first 6 games were excellent - yet still not at the level of the last two years, and he has certainly fallen away since then.  In the eleven games he has played he has gone under 30 possies on only one occasion, yet hasnt surpassed 40 once (last year he topped the 40 mark no less than 5 times).  Hard to see him going back-to-back in his current form.

2nd. Dane Swan (COLL) - 16 votes, 15/1
A somewhat controversial choice, but I have Swanny firmly in second place at the moment.  Whilst he is only playing marginally better than last year where he picked up just 12 votes for the entire season, there are a couple of differences worth noting:  Firstly, the core group of Pendlebury, Davis, Didak & Shaw took alot of the votes away from Swan last year, whereas only Pendlebury is playing anywhere near 09 form.  Secondly, Dane did very poorly in the Coaches Votes last year, where as it stands right now he is in second place.  Ablett and Judd topped the coaches votes last year, and they went 1-2...

1st. Luke Hodge (HAW) - 18 votes, 8/1
Hasnt put a foot wrong all year, playing brilliantly when the Hawks were losing, and even better now that they are winning week in, week out.  Has been in the Hawks best two players in 5 of their 6 wins, is now 14 votes clear in the Coaches Votes, 2nd in overall SuperCoach points, and presents enormous value at $8.

All of this weeks votes over the page...

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Roos v Blues
3. L. Thomas (3)
2. S. Thompson (3)
1. B. Gibbs (8)
...S. McMahon, E. Betts, M. Firrito

Hawks v Crows
3. C. Rioli (4)
2. L. Hodge (18)
1. J. Lewis (5)
...L. Franklin, S. Mitchell, R. Douglas

Bombers v Cats
3. J. Bartel (11)
2. J. Kelly (4)
1. T. Varcoe (1)
...G. Ablett, S. Byrnes, J. Podsiadly

Power v Swans
3. N. Malceski (7)
2. A. Goodes (3)
1. R. OKeefe (5)
...J. Bolton, K. Cornes, S. Mumford

Tigers v Eagles
3. J. Riewoldt (5)
2. B. Deledio (4)
1. S. Tuck (4)
...M. Priddis, J. King, B. Waters

Dogs v Lions
3. B. Hall (5)
2. A. Cooney (8)
1. M. Boyd (6)
...R. Murphy, D. Morris, R. Griffen

Dockers v Saints
3. B. Goddard (13)
2. N. Dal Santo (10)
1. D. Mundy (6)
...M. Barlow, F. Ray, S. Milne

Demons v Pies
3. D. Swan (16)
2. B. Moloney (5)
1. M. Jamar (1)
...S. Pendlebury, A. Davey, B. Dick

[span style="text-decoration: underline">Leaderboard
18. L. Hodge
16. D. Swan
14. G. Ablett
13. B. Goddard
12. M. Barlow
11. J. Bartel
10. N. Dal Santo
9. P. Chapman, L. Hayes, C. Judd, S. Pendlebury