The Brownlow Medal count on Monday night is shaping up as a tight contest with several, including the likes of Nat Fyfe and Todd Goldstein, in contention. Jesse Hogan looks at the 10 standout performances of the season.

NAT FYFE (Fre) - round 2 vs Geel. 36 disposals, 25 contested possessions, 6 clearances, 7 inside 50s, 13 score involvements and 3 goals.

As if the mystique of Nat Fyfe had not grown enough already by the start of 2015, it was performances like these that transformed his reputation from one of the best in the league to shedding "one of". It demonstrated why as early as the halfway mark of the season many pundits considered a Fyfe Brownlow a sure thing.

Geelong crowds have witnessed more than their fair share of champion midfielders over the past decade, chiefly among them Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood. Where Fyfe differs from those two is his extra height, and the inclusion of strong, high marking in his armoury. It was why The Age's Peter Hanlon observed that "as much as Joel Selwood, James Kelly and Cam Guthrie tried, Fremantle had in Fyfe multiple players in one".

Nat Fyfe was in brilliant form early in the season. Photo: Getty Images

Fyfe showed on this day how he could win the ball in traffic, hold off an opponent in marking contests and hit the scoreboard, too. It was in large part down to him that Fremantle were able to pull away from the Cats midway through the third quarter.

Geelong coach Chris Scott later said they came into the season rating Fyfe as the best player in the game, based on his performances last year, and that the first two rounds of the season had not dissuaded them from that. "Don't ask me [how good he is], ask the guys who play against him," Scott said. "They rate him pretty highly."

DANE SWAN (Coll) - round 3 vs St K. 39 disposals, 18 contested possessions, 7 clearances, 15 inside 50s, 13 score involvements and 1 goal

Dane Swan is the last remaining member of the Collingwood rat pack that used to feature the likes of Heath Shaw, Alan Didak and Dayne Beams. While for that alone he has longevity, his body seemed to have been failing him last year, as the regular 35-plus-possession matches began to dry up and Swan, never the smoothest mover to begin with, began to look every bit the 30-plus veteran whose end had arrived much faster than most would have anticipated.

Collingwood were coming off a bad home loss to Adelaide, while St Kilda were buoyant having defied their meagre expectations to beat Gold Coast away in their preceding match. The Saints' enthusiasm was progressively dented more and more by the Magpies, who began to pull away in the second quarter.

The greasy Friday-night conditions suited Swan perfectly, with his handling surprisingly clean given the struggles of others. Swan's 27 kicks were almost double the tally managed by any of his teammates. He got these kicks while still demonstrating his willingness to win the ball in the clinches, notching 18 contested disposals.

The veteran had a hand in more than a third of the Magpies' shots on goal, as part of his 15 inside-50s for the match. The goal he kicked, sharking a ruck tap from Brodie Grundy, was celebrated more nonchalantly that it could have been given the skill needed to anticipate what was happening.

JOEL SELWOOD (Geel) - round 3 vs GC. 38 disposals, 23 contested possessions, 12 clearances, 6 tackles, 8 score involvements and 1 goal

Geelong are not the powerhouse they were in the not-too-distant past, but expectations on them - and of themselves - are nevertheless high. For that reason, losing their two opening matches of the season and starting slowly in the third at home to Gold Coast was a big cause for concern for their supporters.

Their captain, Joel Selwood, is regularly swamped by concerned trainers because of collisions he is involved in on the field, typically because of his single-minded focus on winning the ball. In the second quarter here he fared worse from a bone-jarring collision with strapping Gold Coast defender Steven May - but, as expected, he willed himself back to his feet and got back to doing what he does best: winning the ball.

When Geelong produced a pivotal third-quarter burst of six unanswered goals it was because their inability to win the ball in close had been remedied - primarily by the captain, of course. "It was Selwood - with an extraordinary 23 contested possessions - who the Cats looked to in their time of need," Peter Hanlon noted. "Yet again, he didn't let them down."

When all of Geelong's hard work might have been to no avail, as the Suns cut the margin to three points with 90 seconds remaining, it was Selwood who won the centre clearance that culminated in the match-sealing goal for his teammate Mark Blicavs. "The ball was in Selwood's hands at the siren, fittingly," Hanlon wrote. "And he thumped it to the turf in exhausted, relieved celebration."

PATRICK CRIPPS (Carl) - round 4 vs St K. 33 disposals, 23 contested possessions, 8 clearances, 11 tackles, 4 score assists and 1 goal

In a wretched year for Carlton in which cause for optimism was in short supply, Patrick Cripps provided it. While most of the midfielders to feature in this list are proven elite players, Cripps is the clear exception, although he has started at a pace to suggest he will join them.

The Blues were under pressure from losing their first three matches of the season, and with a 14-point deficit at the main break in Wellington to St Kilda, a fourth was on the cards. That they bucked that trend to run over the Saints in the second half, kicking 10 of the last 12 goals, was in no small measure down to Cripps.

There was a lot to like about Cripps' performances, such as winning 23 contested possessions, and arguably the most was that he was just as intense without the ball as he was with it, laying 11 tackles for the match. While the Blues' other stand-out performer from the match, Lachie Henderson, has walked out on the club in search of a new start, Cripps is at the centre of their planning.

This performance was enough to earn him the Rising Star nomination. That he managed to produce similar form throughout the season pushed him right to the cusp of winning the end-of-year award. His defeat, by Melbourne's Jesse Hogan, was annoying for Carlton supporters, but it will quickly be forgotten once he is playing again next season and giving them new reasons to smile.

MATT PRIDDIS (WC) - round 7 vs GC. 39 disposals, 20 contested possessions, 7 tackles, 7 inside 50s, 3 score assists and 2 goals

It was a stock-standard Matt Priddis game. The difference is that since winning a Brownlow Medal those stock-standard performances don't fly under the radar as much as they used to. The wet conditions were ideal for Priddis, who relies on strength more than pace. He is not a noted goalkicker, so when he opened proceedings at home against Gold Coast it was a fair omen that he was set for an influential night.

The Suns, without Gary Ablett and Jack Martin, needed big contributions from their second-tier midfielders to fill that void. Dion Prestia, Michael Rischitelli and Mitch Hallahan all contributed, but none were able to match the level of influence exerted by Priddis, who showed he was unaffected by the extra attention that came his way from winning the Brownlow.

After half-time the Priddis-led Eagles monstered the Suns, kicking 12 unanswered goals. Even though the sting had gone out of the game, Priddis did not stop pushing for more. Given he is such a driven player, he would have walked off Domain Stadium irked that they had allowed Gold Coast to kick three of the last four goals of the match, to drag the margin shy of the triple figures it warranted.

While for once Priddis did not lead the Eagles for possession - that fell to Chris Masten, whose 20 last-quarter haul lifted his tally to 43 - his biggest contribution again came when the game was there to be won.

GARY ABLETT (GC) - round 16 vs GWS. 30 disposals, 14 contested possessions, 9 clearances, 17 tackles, 10 score involvements and 3 goals

We all know Gary Ablett is a champion. We also know that it took little more than a passing glance at the way he was playing this season, in his fleeting appearance, to know he was doing so under significant physical duress. Having been out for three months with a shoulder injury, Ablett returned mid-season and immediately produced three 30-possession matches. The last of them was his best, and deserved to be highlighted amid a loss to their fellow expansion club GWS.

Gary Ablett was in superb touch after returning from injury. Photo: Getty Images

It was as if Ablett sought to dispel doubts about the condition of his shoulder the best way he knew how: by laying an astonishing career-high 17 tackles. The hard stuff done by the captain extended to chasing and smothers. One of those brought an immediate and spectacular award as he smothered an attempted clearing kick from defence by the Giants' Nick Haynes, and somehow in the same motion picked up the ball and threaded it through for a team-lifting goal from deep in the forward pocket.

Ablett produced another team-lifter 15 seconds into the final quarter to push the margin to five points. While on this occasion his performance was in a losing effort - the Giants kicked four of the last five goals - it was a welcome reminder of Ablett's brilliance, in a year he spent mostly on the sidelines. Sadly, it was the final full match he played for the season, before injury again intervened.

TODD GOLDSTEIN (NM) - round 16 vs Ess. 27 disposals, 14 contested possessions, 8 clearances, 9 score involvements and 57 hit-outs (20 to advantage)

Just like the Brownlow itself, this list was dominated by midfielders - except one. If the same occurs on awards night, and North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein breaks the midfielder streak, it will be hard to argue it is undeserved based on his level of influence throughout the season.

Essendon coach James Hird later said they had identified Goldstein as the form ruckman of the league, and because of that had worked on strategies to negate his influence. Those strategies were to absolutely no avail as the Kangaroo monstered makeshift Bombers ruckman Shaun McKernan in every facet of the game.

Even just his deft ruck taps to the likes of Andrew Swallow and Ben Cunnington in the middle would have been enough for him to be rated as having done his job. He did far, far more. He tapped (57 times in all), he marked, he goaled, he ran. One of the best moments for Kangaroos supporters would have been on the wing when Goldstein was outnumbered by Bombers duo McKernan and Dyson Heppell.

As the ball was in dispute, Goldstein snatched it from the grasp of McKernan and dashed off at a pace that the smaller Heppell was unable to match. Goldstein then countered the stereotype that ruckmen are too tall and lumbering to kick well, with a precise long kick to Ben Brown in space, who was able to play on and kick a goal. Hird was at a loss to explain Goldstein's peerless influence on the match. "We put a lot of work into it. It didn't work, obviously," he lamented.

JOEL SELWOOD (Geel) - round 18 vs BL. 27 disposals, 5 clearances, 11 tackles, 6 score assists, 12 score involvements and 2 goals

In a match at home to Brisbane that was eminently forgettable immediately afterward, let alone in the context of an entire season, Joel Selwood's dominant performance was arguably the only reason you could possibly want a DVD copy.

Brisbane had endured another miserable year, and when Steve Johnson waltzed into goal barely 20 seconds after the first bounce it looked like this match would be more of the same for the Lions, who were never in front for the match.

If the Cats players were struggling for motivation in a match they were overwhelmingly favoured to win, that did not extend to the captain. Selwood was the highest-rated midfielder playing in the match and performed accordingly.

Even though fellow Cats Josh Caddy, Steven Motlop and Cameron Guthrie trumped him for overall disposals, as did the Lions' Tom Rockliff and Mitch Robinson, none of them could match the all-round influence of Selwood. While players who rise to big occasions are deservedly lauded, it is important not to overlook players of Selwood's ilk who lift themselves for matches that won't be remembered and simply have to be won.

DANE SWAN (Coll) - round 19 vs Carl. 41 disposals, 28 uncontested possessions, 6 clearances, 4 inside 50s, 13 score involvements and 3 goals

Swan produced a huge performance against St Kilda, and late in the year did the same against the Blues - and in doing so reached 40 possessions for the first time in two years. While the feature of the performance against the Saints was winning the ball in the clinches, this time the veteran proved he still has mobility and athleticism by winning 28 in space against the Blues.

The Magpies won the match against the arch rival by three goals. This, coincidentally, was the personal contribution of Swan. While some of his 10 marks were because he found the ball in space, the match also provided a reminder of one of his less-heralded positive traits: his ability to hold out a similar sized opponent and take a strong one-on-one mark.

Swan's performance was pivotal in Collingwood snapping the six-match losing streak which threatened to - and ultimately did - remove them from finals contention, and earned him the praise of coach Nathan Buckley, for how diligently he had come back from a 2014 in which his body was, according to his coach, "packing up".

SCOTT PENDLEBURY (Coll) - round 22 vs Geel. 32 disposals, 26 uncontested possessions, 6 tackles, 4 inside 50s and 2 score assists

Collingwood were officially out of finals contention. All they could do in their round-22 match against Geelong was drag a rival team down with them. While the Cats' Joel Selwood was sure to be leading the charge to preserve their finals bid, his Collingwood counterpart Scott Pendlebury was desperate to lead his team to a morale-boosting victory.

In the latest battle of two of the league's elite midfielders, Pendlebury - and his Magpies - came out on top. Geelong's want for a fast start was hindered by Pendlebury immediately stamping his authority on the match with 11 first-quarter possessions. Even the mid-match loss of Dane Swan to a knee injury did not halt the Magpies' dominance.

Collingwood were not exclusively relying on Pendlebury in the midfield - Levi Greenwood, Taylor Adams and Jack Crisp were all impressive contributors - but they nevertheless benefited from the captain leading by example. It was anomalous that Pendlebury finished the match with zero clearances. Even though he was able to deployed in a primarily outside role - 26 of his 33 possessions were uncontested - he still had a major influence. Laying six tackles showed his preparedness to do the tough stuff too.