Norm Smith Medal

The Norm Smith Medal is the award given in the AFL Grand Final to the player adjudged by an independent panel of experts to have been the best player in the match.

History

The Norm Smith Medal is named after former Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith. It was named in his honour mostly due to his coaching feats in Grand Finals: he coached six Melbourne premiership sides.

As with most individual awards in team sports, the Norm Smith Medal is usually awarded to a player on the winning side. Only four players have won the award in losing sides: Maurice Rioli in 1982, Gary Ablett, Sr. in 1989, Nathan Buckley in 2002 and Chris Judd in 2005. It is notable that Ablett, Buckley and Judd won their medals in very close Grand Finals, whereas Rioli won his in the 1982 Grand Final, despite his team being convincingly beaten by Carlton.Chris Judd is the only player to go on and play in a winning premiership team(West Coast 2006) after his Norm Smith medal in 2005 in a losing team. Buckley Rioli and Ablett did not play in a VFL/AFL premiership team.

Gary Ayres and Andrew McLeod are the only players to have won the medal twice. In the 1997 and 1998 grand finals McLeod won consecutive Norm Smith Medals, and to date remains the only man ever to achieve this feat. The first winner of the medal, Wayne Harmes, was Norm Smith's nephew.

Voting

The medal is voted for by a panel of five experts from the media, with one member designated as the chairman. The panel-members independently award 3-2-1 votes to the players they adjudge to be the best three players in the game. These votes are tallied, and the highest number of 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 3-votes;
• the player with the higher number of 2-votes;
• the player deemed best by the panel chairman.

In the case of a grand final being drawn and a replay being required, a separate Norm Smith Medal is awarded in each game.

List of winners

Year	Winner	Club	Winning team
1979	Wayne Harmes	Carlton	Carlton
1980	Kevin Bartlett	Richmond	Richmond
1981	Bruce Doull	Carlton	Carlton
19822	Maurice Rioli	Richmond	Carlton
1983	Colin Robertson	Hawthorn	Hawthorn
1984	Billy Duckworth	Essendon	Essendon
1985	Simon Madden	Essendon	Essendon
1986	Gary Ayres	Hawthorn	Hawthorn
1987	David Rhys-Jones	Carlton	Carlton
1988	Gary Ayres	Hawthorn	Hawthorn
19892	Gary Ablett, Sr.	Geelong	Hawthorn
1990	Tony Shaw	Collingwood	Collingwood
1991	Paul Dear	Hawthorn	Hawthorn
1992	Peter Matera	West Coast	West Coast
1993	Michael Long	Essendon	Essendon
1994	Dean Kemp	West Coast	West Coast
1995	Greg Williams	Carlton	Carlton
1996	Glenn Archer	North Melbourne	North Melbourne
1997	Andrew McLeod	Adelaide	Adelaide
1998	Andrew McLeod	Adelaide	Adelaide
1999	Shannon Grant	Kangaroos	Kangaroos
2000	James Hird	Essendon	Essendon
2001	Shaun Hart	Brisbane Lions	Brisbane Lions
20022	Nathan Buckley	Collingwood	Brisbane Lions
2003	Simon Black	Brisbane Lions	Brisbane Lions
2004	Byron Pickett	Port Adelaide	Port Adelaide
20052	Chris Judd	West Coast	Sydney
2006	Andrew Embley	West Coast	West Coast
2007	Steve Johnson	Geelong	Geelong
2008	Luke Hodge	Hawthorn	Hawthorn
2009	Paul Chapman	Geelong	Geelong
20101	Lenny Hayes	St Kilda	Draw
	Scott Pendlebury	Collingwood	Collingwood
2011	Jimmy Bartel	Geelong	Geelong

¹ – Two medals were awarded as the grand final was drawn, and a second match was played the following week.

² – Winner played on losing team

References

• Collins, Ben (2008). The Red Fox, The Biography of Norm Smith Legendary Melbourne Coach. Australia: The Slattery Media Group. ISBN 9780980346626. 

See also

• Michael Tuck Medal
• Brownlow Medal
• Coleman Medal
• Clive Churchill Medal

External links

• The Red Fox - The Biography of Norm Smith, Legendary Melbourne Coach