Who was better in 2011?

[mateinone]

Both were great. From memory Chris Judd was the Brownlow favorite, with Murphy on the 2nd or 3rd line of betting (Swan won). Marc Murphy also won the The Age Player of the Year that year. Both were All Australians.

In regards to the AFLPA vs AFLCA, the AFLCA has to generally be considered the more accurate.

Whilst the AFLCA is based on the impact players had in a specific game against each other, with the knowledge of the specific roles players had, the efforts that went into preventing a player etc.

The AFLPA is based on picking who you think the top 3 players were from a pool of players. Not based on actual games, just a "who do you think was the best player". 

I am fairly sure at the time I thought Murphy might have won the Brownlow (actually finished 15 off the lead, though Judd finished 11).

I think any attempt to split the two has to be considered subjective, as I don't think there is a clear way of determining.