| 2003 Brownlow Medal | |
| Date: | 22 September |
| Location: | Crown Palladium |
| Holder Label: | Winners |
| Holder: | Nathan Buckley Adam Goodes Mark Ricciuto 22 votes |
| Network: | Nine Network |
| Host: | Eddie McGuire |
| Previous: | 2002 |
| Main: | Brownlow Medal |
| Next: | 2004 |
The 2003 Brownlow Medal was the 76th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season.[1] Nathan Buckley of the Collingwood Football Club, Adam Goodes of the Sydney Swans, and Mark Ricciuto of the Adelaide Football Club all won the medal by polling twenty-two votes each during the 2003 AFL season.[2]
Buckley and Goodes polled three votes in matches only twice during the season – the least by any Brownlow Medal winner.[3]
| Player | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| =1st | Nathan Buckley | 22 | |
| Adam Goodes | |||
| Mark Ricciuto | |||
| =4th | Ben Cousins | 21 | |
| Shane Crawford | |||
| Gavin Wanganeen | |||
| =7th | Peter Bell | 19 | |
| Michael Voss | |||
| James Hird | |||
| 10th | Andrew McLeod | 18 |
The three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes, and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and they are read and tallied on the evening.[4]
As the medal is awarded to the fairest and best player in the league, those who have been suspended during the season by the AFL Tribunal (or, who avoided suspension only because of a discount for a good record or an early guilty plea) are ineligible to win the award; however, they may still continue to poll votes.