Whilst AFL football is a team sport – with its main objective winning the AFL Premiership Cup – several individual awards acknowledge the outstanding contributions made in each season. In alphabetical order, each award is listed to explain what the medal recognizes and the magnitude of the award itself.
Firstly, however, I’d like to give a quick reference to the term ‘home-and-away season’, which only refers to the matches played in a regular AFL season, and not the matches played in a pre-season competition or during the finals campaign.
AFL Rising Star Award
This award is presented to a young player in the AFL who has demonstrated ability beyond his years in the very early stages of his career. Players get nominated for the award on a weekly basis during the home-and-away season, with the winner to be decided by an AFL selection committee at the end of the season.
To be eligible for the AFL Rising Star Award, you must be younger than 21 years of age at the start of the calendar year of that season and must have played less than ten AFL matches prior to the commencement of the season.
Generally, winners of the award have gone on to have at least enjoyed respectable careers with some of the standouts including Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley (then playing for the Brisbane Bears), West Coast’s Ben Cousins and two-time Sydney Brownlow medalist, Adam Goodes.
The Brownlow Medal
Renowned for being the most coveted individual award in AFL football, the Brownlow Medal – nicknamed ‘Charlie’ – is awarded to the player who has been adjudged to have been the best and fairest player in an AFL home-and-away season. Traditionally awarded on the Monday before the AFL Grand Final, the Brownlow Medal is decided by the officiating umpires after each home-and-away season match who collectively award the best three players of that match with three, two and one vote/s respectively.
As assumed, the Brownlow Medal is the player who polls the most votes in any given home-and-away season and is presented at a Brownlow Medal count in Melbourne, Australia. The Brownlow Medal count itself is televised to millions of viewers nationwide each year and is used as a celebration of the current AFL season whilst previewing the AFL Grand Final ahead.
Some of the greatest players to have ever graced the sport have taken home ‘Charlie’. They include three-time winners, Ian Stewart, Dick Reynolds, Bob Skilton and Haydn Bunton Sr, all-time VFL/AFL goalkicker and four-time Coleman medalist, Tony Lockett, and current greats in Adam Goodes, Gary Ablett Jr and Chris Judd.
The Coleman Medal
The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player who kicks the most goals in an AFL home-and-away season and is an extremely prestigious award that has also been won by some of the greats of the game. The medal itself was introduced in 1981 and was retrospectively awarded to all leading goal kickers dating back to 1955. Before that, the VFL (now AFL) had awarded the Leading Goalkicker Award.
The Coleman Medal was named after former Essendon full-forward, John Coleman, who won the Leading Goalkicker Award in his first five years of VFL football before having his career cut tragically short following a serious knee injury in 1954.
Some of the all-time greats to have won Coleman Medals include Hawthorn’s Jason Dunstall, Geelong’s Gary Ablett Sr and Collingwood’s Dick Lee.
The Goal of the Year
The AFL Goal of the Year award is presented to the player who has been adjudged to have kicked the best goal of the AFL season. The award is also known as the Phil Manassa Medal: a Collingwood player who bounced his way from the half-back flank to kick an amazing goal on the run in the 1977 Grand Final Replay.
The AFL Goal of the Year award is determined in various stages. Each week, three goals are selected, with the public voting for the best one. Then, at the end of the season, an AFL selection committee selects three of the best marks of the season before selecting the final winner.
The Jock McHale Medal
The Jock McHale Medal is awarded to the premiership-winning coach each season at the completion of the AFL Grand Final. The Jock McHale Medal was first awarded in 2001, with all coaches dating back to the 1950 AFL Grand Final also being retrospectively awarded with the medal.
Without any great surprise, the medal was named after Jock McHale: a player, captain and coach for Collingwood whose career spanned from 1903 to 1949. He coached Collingwood to eight premierships, 17 grand finals and 467 victories from his 714 VFL games coached at a winning ratio of 66.1% – a fantastic achievement.
The Mark of the Year
The AFL Mark of the Year award is presented to the player who has been adjudged to have taken the greatest mark of the AFL season. The selection process mirrors that of the AFL Goal of the Year and celebrates one of the most tremendous features of the game.
The award is also known as the Alex Jesaulenko Medal after Carlton’s Jesaulenko took a spectacular mark over Collingwood’s Graeme ‘Jerker’ Jenkin in the 1970 VFL Grand Final – an iconic moment in the game’s history.
The Norm Smith Medal
This Norm Smith Medal is awarded to the player who is adjudged the best on ground in an AFL Grand Final. Usually the winner of the Norm Smith Medal is a part of the winning team, but four occasions in the game’s history have we seen a member of the losing side win the medal. They include Richmond’s Maurice Rioli, Geelong’s Gary Ablett Sr, Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley and West Coast’s Chris Judd (now of Carlton).
The medal is named after the hugely successful Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith, who coached his side to six premierships and was renowned for his outstanding coaching feats particularly during the finals campaign. Furthermore, Hawthorn’s Gary Ayres and Adelaide’s Andrew McLeod are the only two players to have won the Norm Smith Medal twice.
Andy Paolacci - Hi there! My name is Andy Paolacci and I am a 26-year-old Monash University Arts/Journalism graduate from Melbourne, Australia. I have ...
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