THE BROWNLOW Medal race is heating up after the top four on the leaderboard all featured among the votes in round 17, according to AFL.com.au's predictor.

As it stands, Sydney Swans gun midfielder Luke Parker and Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield share the lead on 21, with Richmond's Dustin Martin one behind that pair and Adelaide's Rory Sloane hot on their heels with 19.

Dangerfield ($1.95 favourite), Martin ($6.50 second favourite) and Sloane ($8, third favourite) are all into the shortest odds with CrownBet that they have been this year.

Parker garnered two votes in the Swans' loss to Hawthorn on Thursday night, after he racked up 35 disposals and 14 clearances against the Hawks.

This season, only Gary Ablett has taken the ball away from a stoppage more times in one game than Parker, when the Suns captain had 15 (also versus the Hawks) in round 14.

The 2014 Swans best and fairest is on the sixth line of betting with the bookmaker at $17.

Dangerfield added three to his tally against in the 17-point win against Fremantle on Friday night. His four goals proved the difference, and he also contributed 31 disposals.

His coach was full of praise after the match.

"His intensity at the contest, to keep his feet and stay in the contest even though he hasn’t got best position," Chris Scott told reporters.

"But the thing that probably separated (Dangerfield’s) game tonight is the fact that he was able to go forward when we were struggling and hit the scoreboard as well.

Martin was awarded three votes for the fifth time in the Tigers' past seven matches.

Some of the numbers the Tigers star notched up against Essendon were startling – he finished with 43 disposals, 22 contested possessions, 14 clearances and two goals.

Despite concerns about Martin's ball use – his disposal efficiency was a whisker over 50 per cent – Tigers coach Damien Hardwick was complimentary of his dominant star after the match.

"Essendon did a pretty good job of smashing into him, but 'Dusty' eventually sees off most guys, so it was a good game from him," Hardwick said.

"When he plays in that beast-mode mentality, he's really hard to stop."

Meanwhile, Sloane continued to show the footy world that he has adequately reolaced Dangerfield after the Crow added two votes to his count in his side's win over Collingwood on Saturday night.

He was relentless against the Magpies, with 27 disposals, 16 contested possessions and eight tackles.