Best and Fairest

Best and Fairest (also known as Fairest and Best in some competitions, notably the Australian Football League) is the term commonly used in Australian sport to describe the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition while not receiving a suspension for misconduct or breaching the rules during that season.

In the Australian Football League (formerly the VFL), the Brownlow Medal is awarded to the player who, provided he has not been suspended during the season, receives the most votes from the umpires for being the Fairest and Best player in games during the home and away season. In each game, the umpires award three votes to the player they judge to be the best afield in that game, two votes to the second-best player and one vote to the third-best player. The votes are counted at a gala function on the Monday preceding the Grand Final.

Another "best and fairest" honour, the Leigh Matthews Trophy, is voted on by the AFL's players and awarded by their trade union, the AFL Players Association. Unlike the Brownlow, players who have served disciplinary suspensions during the season are still eligible to win this award.

Best-and-fairest awards of major Australian football competitions

Medal	League	First awarded	Award criteria	Comments
Brownlow Medal	Australian Football League	1924	Fairest and best	Awarded by the league
Leigh Matthews Trophy	Australian Football League	1982	Most valuable	Awarded by the AFL Players Association
Sandover Medal	West Australian Football League	1921	Fairest and best
Magarey Medal	South Australian National Football League	1898	Fairest and most brilliant
J. J. Liston Trophy	Victorian Football League	1945	Best and fairest	Between 1923 and the 1941 the Recorder Cup was awarded, and between 1933 and 1940 the VFA Medal was also awarded
Grogan Medal	Queensland AFL	1946	Best and fairest	The De Little Medal was awarded earlier
William Leitch Medal	Tasmanian State League	1930	Best and fairest	A previous award also existed
Morrish Medal	TAC Cup	1947	Best and fairest	The Morrish Medal was also the best and fairest award in the VFL/AFL Under-19s competition which was superseded by the TAC Cup in 1992
Larke Medal	AFL National Under 18 Championships, Division 1	1976	Best
Hunter Harrison Medal	AFL National Under 18 Championships, Division 2	1992	Best
Phelan Medal	Sydney AFL		Best and fairest
Baldock Medal	Northern Tasmanian Football League
Nichols Medal	Northern Territory Football League