BROWNLOW Medal night has never been about celebrating the AFL’s dour defenders.

It’s been near impossible for the glamour forwards and omnipresent ruckman of the competition to challenge the midfielders for footy’s ultimate individual honour — so what hope do belligerent backman have of stealing votes?

In the case of Port Adelaide fullback Alipate Carlile, none. To this point of his career, anyway. The Power veteran is within reach of a passing a quirky mark when the league’s stars gather at Crown Casino on Monday night — most games without polling a vote.

The third round draft pick in 2005 entered this season having played 147 games without troubling the vote-counters on the AFL’s night of nights.

He played 12 more before a hip injury prematurely ended his 2015 season, meaning he will overtake joint record holders Shannon Watt and Ross Henshaw (150 games) if he fails to poll this season.

Carlile’s best chances — at least according to the AFL’s coaches — will come in rounds four and five against Hawthorn and Adelaide, and a round 10 win against the Western Bulldogs. These are the only games this season he polled votes in the AFL Coaches Association Award, all though on each occasion there were at least three players on the field who polled more.

There are other players breathing down Carlile’s neck for this dubious honour. Fellow defenders Tom Lonergan (Geelong), Zac Dawson (Fremantle) and Michael Jamison (Carlton) entered the season having failed to poll in 131, 126 and 126 games respectively.

Western Bulldogs’ Liam Picken (123 games), Adelaide’s David Mackay (118) and Collingwood’s Alan Toovey (118) are others looking for their first vote on Monday.

TAB ODDS – WHO WILL BREAK THEIR BROWNLOW DROUGHT?

$1.03 Liam Picken

$17 David Mackay

$34 Michael Jamison

$34 Alan Toovey

$51 Alipate Carlile

$51 Tom Lonergan

$51 Zac Dawson

“It looks a safe bet that Alipate might get stuck with a record he doesn’t want, he is a long shot to poll this year. Liam Picken on the other hand may get the monkey off his back, with a few best on grounds not out of the question,” TAB’s Shaun Anderson said.

Watt and Henshaw, both reliable but unremarkable defenders for North Melbourne, regained the record when Jason Blake snagged a couple of votes towards the end of his career at St Kilda.

Blake didn’t poll until his 194th minor round match, but nabbed two votes against Gold Coast in round 11, 2012, before taking his career tally to three by polling one vote in his final game in round 23, 2013.

“It was very strange. It was good and funny … I was at a friend’s place and they all certainly got around me,” Blake told AFL.com.au of his memories of the night he first received votes.

“It was a bit of fun and it’s good to have the monkey off the back. To hear I was trending on Twitter was hilarious.

“I didn’t really take much out of the whole thing personally but it is certainly nice to get some recognition after all these years.”

Other notable players who had extremely quiet Brownlow nights during their careers include Western Bulldogs defender Ryan Hargrave, who played 192 minor round games for just one vote, and former Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell, who polled just three votes in 190 games.

Fremantle midfielder Nathan Fyfe is expected to charge to an early lead and hold off challenges from West Coast’s Matt Priddis, Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield and Sydney’s Daniel Hannebery for the league’s fairest and best player award.

Hawthorn veteran Sam Mitchell and Kangaroos ruck Todd Goldstein are also predicted to poll heavily.