Gary Ablett has reclaimed favouritism for the Brownlow Medal for the first time since suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in Round 16 that resulted in his odds ballooning from $1.50 to $7.

After Round 21, Ablett’s odds of winning his third Brownlow Medal firmed from $6 to $3 with online bookie Sportingbet.com.au after former favourite Josh Kennedy sustained a hamstring injury and other key contenders continued to stumble.

2014 Brownlow Medal Winner

Sportingbet.com.au market

Gary Ablett $3 (was $6)

Joel Selwood $3 (was $3.25)

Matt Priddis $7 (was $8)

Dyson Heppell $10 (was $21)

Scott Pendlebury $11 (was $7)

Josh Kennedy $11 (was $4)

Lance Franklin $15 (was $21)

Others $23+

Geelong’s Joel Selwood shares $3 favouritism and is in the best position to reel in Ablett.

“Our analysts have Selwood trailing Ablett by just two votes with two games to go,” Sportingbet’s Andrew Brown said.

“Priddis is a further one to two votes behind Selwood according to our estimates, but that hasn’t stopped punters backing him heavily over the last few weeks.”

Matthew Priddis has firmed from $34 to $7 since the beginning of July.

Sportingbet’s running Brownlow Medal vote tally (below) shows the ineligible Nathan Fyfe level with Ablett on 24.5 votes after Round 21.

Sportingbet’s analysts award half votes when they can’t split certain player performances, a system that has proven to balance out over the course of the season and provide a more accurate prediction of a player’s final vote numbers.

2014 Brownlow Medal

Votes according to Sportingbet’s AFL analysts. Odds from Sportingbet.com.au