Norm Smith Medal

Norm Smith Medal
LeagueAustralian Football League
Awarded forThe best on ground in the VFL/AFL Grand Final
History
First award1979
First winnerWayne Harmes
Most winsDustin Martin (3)
Most recentBobby Hill (2023)

The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990, the competition was known as the Victorian Football League (VFL). It was first presented in the 1979 VFL Grand Final, and it was won by Wayne Harmes, playing in Carlton's premiership victory against Collingwood. The award is named in honour of Norm Smith, who won four VFL premierships as a player and six as coach for the Melbourne Football Club.

Dustin Martin (2017, 2019 and 2020) is the only player to win the award three times. The award is usually won by a player on the winning team in the Grand Final; only four players have received the award as members of the losing teams: Maurice Rioli in 1982, Gary Ablett Sr. in 1989, Nathan Buckley in 2002, and Chris Judd in 2005. The club with the most Norm Smith Medal wins is Hawthorn, with eight awards won by players representing the club. The most recent recipient of the award is Collingwood's Bobby Hill.

Voting and presentation

The winner is voted on by a five-member panel consisting of former players, journalists and media personalities, with one member designated as the chair. Each panellist independently awards 3 votes, 2 votes and 1 vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match respectively. These votes are tallied, and the highest number of combined votes wins the medal.

There is no chance of a tie for the medal; if two players are tied for votes, the following countbacks will apply in order:

  • the player with the higher number of three-votes;
  • the player with the higher number of two-votes;
  • the player deemed best by the panel chair.

Paul Chapman is the only player to win on a countback, after he and Jason Gram tied with nine votes apiece in 2009.

In some years judges were required to lodge their decisions prior to the completion of the match, to ensure votes were compiled in time for the ceremony. This was changed following the 2002 AFL Grand Final, after Michael Voss had five crucial possessions in the last five minutes of the close game which could have swayed the voting, but eventually placed fourth behind Nathan Buckley. After the match, three of the five judges suggested they would have voted differently if they had lodged their votes after the final siren.

Prior to the 2016 season, if the Grand Final resulted in a draw, the game would be replayed the following week. In such instances, a separate Norm Smith Medal was awarded in each game. Since 2016, a drawn Grand Final would result in the use of extra time to determine the winner, rather than a full match replay.

The medal is presented in a post-match ceremony held immediately after the conclusion of the match. Since 2004, former Norm Smith medallists have presented the award, in the order of the year in which they won; as of 2019, Gary Ablett Sr. is the only former winner to decline presenting the award;[citation needed] and Nathan Buckley's position in the sequence was skipped in 2019 as he was coaching Collingwood, who were yet to be eliminated when the decision on presenter had to be made.

Recipients

Andrew McLeod and Dustin Martin are the only players to have won consecutive Norm Smith Medals. McLeod won in 1997 and 1998, while Martin won in 2019 and 2020.
A male athlete with light hair wearing a polo shirt and pants walks on the grass surface of the playing arena.
Nathan Buckley is one of just four players to have received the Norm Smith Medal as a member of the losing Grand Final team.
A male athlete with dark hair wearing a jumper sits in a chair.
Chris Judd is the most recent player to receive the medal as a member of the losing Grand Final team, winning in 2005.
A male athlete with dark hair wearing a sleeved jersey smiles at camera.
Luke Hodge is one of just four players to have won multiple Norm Smith Medals, winning in 2008 and 2014.
A male bald-headed athlete wearing a sleeved jersey and shorts standing on the grass surface of the playing arena.
Paul Chapman is the only player to win the Norm Smith Medal on a countback, winning in 2009.
A male athlete with dark hair wearing a sleeved jersey and compression pants runs on the boundary of the grass surface of the playing arena.
Lenny Hayes is the only player to have won a Norm Smith medal in a drawn Grand Final, doing so in 2010.
Table key
^ Player was member of losing team
Table of recipients
Year Recipient Club Ref
1979 Wayne Harmes Carlton
1980 Kevin Bartlett Richmond
1981 Bruce Doull Carlton
1982 Maurice Rioli^ Richmond
1983 Colin Robertson Hawthorn
1984 Billy Duckworth Essendon
1985 Simon Madden Essendon
1986 Gary Ayres Hawthorn
1987 David Rhys-Jones Carlton
1988 Gary Ayres (2) Hawthorn
1989 Gary Ablett Sr.^ Geelong
1990 Tony Shaw Collingwood
1991 Paul Dear Hawthorn
1992 Peter Matera West Coast
1993 Michael Long Essendon
1994 Dean Kemp West Coast
1995 Greg Williams Carlton
1996 Glenn Archer North Melbourne
1997 Andrew McLeod Adelaide
1998 Andrew McLeod (2) Adelaide
1999 Shannon Grant North Melbourne
2000 James Hird Essendon
2001 Shaun Hart Brisbane Lions
2002 Nathan Buckley^ Collingwood
2003 Simon Black Brisbane Lions
2004 Byron Pickett Port Adelaide
2005 Chris Judd^ West Coast
2006 Andrew Embley West Coast
2007 Steve Johnson Geelong
2008 Luke Hodge Hawthorn
2009 Paul Chapman Geelong
2010 Lenny Hayes St Kilda
2010 (R) Scott Pendlebury Collingwood
2011 Jimmy Bartel Geelong
2012 Ryan O'Keefe Sydney
2013 Brian Lake Hawthorn
2014 Luke Hodge (2) Hawthorn
2015 Cyril Rioli Hawthorn
2016 Jason Johannisen Western Bulldogs
2017 Dustin Martin Richmond
2018 Luke Shuey West Coast
2019 Dustin Martin (2) Richmond
2020 Dustin Martin (3) Richmond
2021 Christian Petracca Melbourne
2022 Isaac Smith Geelong
2023 Bobby Hill Collingwood


Players with multiple wins

Table of multiple recipients
Player Team Medals Years
Dustin Martin Richmond 3 2017, 2019, 2020
Gary Ayres Hawthorn 2 1986, 1988
Andrew McLeod Adelaide 2 1997, 1998
Luke Hodge Hawthorn 2 2008, 2014

Club totals

Table of clubs' totals
Club Total Years
Hawthorn 8 1983, 1986, 1988, 1991, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015
Geelong 5 1989, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2022
Richmond 5 1980, 1982, 2017, 2019, 2020
West Coast 5 1992, 1994, 2005, 2006, 2018
Carlton 4 1979, 1981, 1987, 1995
Collingwood 4 1990, 2002, 2010 replay, 2023
Essendon 4 1984, 1985, 1993, 2000
Adelaide 2 1997, 1998
North Melbourne 2 1996, 1999
Brisbane Lions 2 2001, 2003
Port Adelaide 1 2004
St Kilda 1 2010
Sydney 1 2012
Western Bulldogs 1 2016
Melbourne 1 2021
Fremantle 0
Greater Western Sydney 0
Gold Coast 0

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-11-24 08:53 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari