The John Nicholls Medal is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Carlton Football Club for the season. The voting system as of the 2017 AFL season, consists of four coaches giving each player a ranking from one to four after each match. Players can receive a maximum of 16 votes for a game.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park which represents the Greater Western Sydney region of New South Wales and Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Max Gawn is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A ruckman, 209 cm tall and weighing 111 kg, Gawn is capable of contributing in both the ruck and forward line. A basketballer and rugby union player at a young age, he pursued his career in Australian rules football and was drafted to the Melbourne Football Club with the thirty-fourth selection in the 2009 AFL draft. He made his AFL debut in the 2011 AFL season. Knee and hamstring injuries hampered his first four seasons in the AFL before he moved into the number-one ruck position at Melbourne in 2015 along with selection for the 2016 All-Australian team. Gawn was named as Melbourne's captain at the start of the 2020 AFL season, and in 2021 led the club to its first premiership since 1964.
Cameron Pedersen is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne and the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A utility, 1.93 metres tall and weighing 95 kilograms (209 lb), Pedersen played the majority of his career in the forward line. After missing out on being drafted at eighteen years of age, he played five seasons in the Victorian Football League (VFL) for Box Hill. His form during the 2010 season led to him being recruited by the North Melbourne Football Club with the seventeenth selection in the 2011 rookie draft and he made his debut in the 2011 season. After two seasons with North Melbourne, playing in sixteen matches and winning the club's best first year player, he was traded to the Melbourne Football Club during the 2013 trade period.
Dom Tyson is a former professional Australian rules footballer playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, 1.86 metres tall and weighing 85 kilograms (187 lb), Tyson is capable of contributing as both an inside and outside midfielder. He was recognised as a talented footballer from a young age when he represented Victoria in the under 12 championships. Queries were raised over his versatility as a midfielder after he missed out on selection in the under 16 championships. Despite this, he was recruited by the Oakleigh Chargers in the TAC Cup as a bottom-aged player, and was named their captain the following year. In addition, he represented Vic Metro in the 2011 AFL Under 18 Championships, which earned him All-Australian honours. His improvement towards the end of his junior career saw him recruited by the Greater Western Sydney Giants with the third selection in the 2011 AFL draft. He made his AFL debut in the 2012 season and earned an AFL Rising Star nomination. After two years with Greater Western Sydney and playing in thirteen matches, he was traded to the Melbourne Football Club during the 2013 trade period.
Tomas Bugg is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He s also an entrepreneur, and the co-founder and CEO of the social media technology firm ZOOZ Group. A defender, 1.85 metres tall and weighing 84 kilograms (185 lb), Bugg was capable of playing on both the half-back line and as a midfielder. He entered top level football early when he joined the Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup as a bottom-aged player. In addition to representing Victoria in both the under 16 and under 18 championships. His performances as a junior, saw him be one of twelve players who signed with the Greater Western Sydney Giants as an underage recruit in 2010. He made his AFL debut in the 2012 season and earned a Rising Star nomination. After spending four seasons with Greater Western Sydney, playing sixty-five matches, he was traded to the Melbourne Football Club during the 2015 trade period. During his time in the AFL, he earned the reputation as being "one of the best nigglers in the competition". Prior to the beginning of the 2019 premiership season, he informed the Carlton Football Club of his decision to step away from AFL football, effective immediately.
Adam Treloar is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants from 2012 to 2015 and the Collingwood Football Club from 2016 to 2020. Treloar won the Anzac Medal in 2018 and the Neale Daniher Trophy in 2019. He received a nomination for the 2012 AFL Rising Star award in round 18 of the 2012 season.
Samuel Frost is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A utility, 1.95 metres tall and weighing 94 kilograms (207 lb), Frost has the ability to play as either a forward or defender, and is capable of also playing in the ruck. He entered top-level football early when he played as a bottom-aged player for the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup. His final year as a junior saw him play in both the winning grand final for Sandringham and the winning final for Vic Metro in the 2011 AFL Under 18 Championships. He was recruited by the Greater Western Sydney Giants with the first selection in the 2012 rookie draft and made his debut during the 2012 season. After three seasons with Greater Western Sydney and twenty-one matches in total, he was traded to the Melbourne Football Club during the 2014 trade period. On 11 October 2019 he was traded to Hawthorn.
Cameron McCarthy is an Australian rules footballer who last played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants from 2013 to 2016.
Jesse Hogan is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). A key forward, Hogan is 1.95 metres tall and weighs 100 kilograms (220 lb). He was a standout basketballer and footballer at a young age, representing Western Australia in both sports and played in the West Australian Football League colts competition with the Claremont Football Club. He was rewarded with All-Australian selection as a junior in the 2012 AFL Under 18 Championships and in turn, he was drafted by Melbourne with the second selection in the 2012 mini-draft, meaning he was ineligible to play in the 2013 AFL season. After a back injury ruined his 2014 season, he made his AFL debut in the 2015 season and won the Ron Evans Medal as the AFL Rising Star. In his first two playing years for Melbourne, he was the leading goalkicker in both seasons. In October 2018, he was acquired by Fremantle in a trade that sent him back home to Western Australia, however, after two unsuccessful years at the Dockers, Hogan was traded to Greater Western Sydney.
Jake Lever is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A defender, 1.95 metres tall and weighing 89 kilograms (196 lb), Lever plays primarily as a half-back and is known for his intercept marking and ability to read the play. Originally from Romsey, Victoria, he played top-level football at a young age when he played with the Calder Cannons in the TAC Cup, and represented and captained Victoria in the AFL Under 18 Championships as a bottom-aged player. He suffered a serious knee injury which forced him to miss the entire season in his final junior year.
Connor Menadue is a former professional Australian rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), having previously played for 39 AFL matches over a five-year tenure with the Richmond Football Club. He was drafted by Richmond in the second round of the 2014 national draft and made his debut in round 7 the following season. Menadue played in a premiership with Richmond's reserves side in the VFL side in 2019. After being delisted by Richmond at the end of 2019 and after one year out of the league, he was redrafted by North Melbourne in the 2021 rookie draft.
Oscar McDonald is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club and Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL). McDonald has played the majority of his career as defender.
Christian Petracca is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, 1.87 metres tall and weighing 98 kilograms (216 lb), Petracca has the ability to play dual-positions as a forward and a midfielder both on the inside and outside. Petracca had a standout junior basketball career where he played in the Victorian under-16 side and he was named in the Australian under-18 squad. He entered top-level football early when he played for Victoria at under-12 level and he represented them throughout his junior career, culminating in selection for Vic Metro in the 2014 AFL Under 18 Championships. In addition, he joined the TAC Cup competition as a bottom-aged player. His achievements as a junior included winning the Larke Medal, the most valuable player at state level, and selection in the All-Australian and TAC Cup Team of the Year sides. Petracca was recruited by Melbourne with the second selection in the 2014 AFL draft. He made his AFL debut in 2016 after missing all of 2015 with a knee injury and received an AFL Rising Star nomination in round 9.
Jarrod Pickett is a former Australian rules footballer playing for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by the Greater Western Sydney Giants with their first selection and fourth overall in the 2014 national draft. After two seasons with the Giants and failing to play a senior match, he was traded to Carlton during the 2016 trade period. He made his debut in the forty-three point loss against Richmond in the opening round of the 2017 season at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Pickett managed 17 games across the 2017 and 2018 seasons for Carlton, but spent a significant period sidelined with injury in late 2018. On June 11, 2019, Carlton announced that Pickett had been released from his contract.
Melissa Hickey is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and the Geelong Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She served as Geelong captain in the club's first two AFL Women's seasons. She also played in the Victorian Women's Football League/VFL Women's for eleven seasons, representing the St Albans Spurs, Darebin and Geelong. In the VWFL/VFLW, Hickey won seven premierships, represented Victoria on three occasions and featured in the VFL Women's team of the year.
Harrison Macreadie is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). An academy player with Greater Western Sydney (GWS), he was drafted by the Carlton Football Club with their third selection and forty-seventh overall in the 2016 national draft after GWS elected not to match Carlton's bid. He made his debut in the forty-three point loss against Richmond in the opening round of the 2017 season at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where he was a late inclusion for the injured Jed Lamb.
Katherine Smith is an Australian rules footballer playing for Greater Western Sydney in the AFL Women's competition. She was drafted by Melbourne with their seventh selection and 56th overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the 15-point loss to Brisbane at Casey Fields in the opening round of the 2017 season. After the two-point win against Adelaide at TIO Stadium in Round 6—in which she recorded ten disposals and a mark—she was the round nominee for the AFLW Rising Star. She played every match in her debut season to finish with seven games.
Will Setterfield is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by Greater Western Sydney with their second selection and fifth overall in the 2016 national draft, and was considered by the media to be one of the most complete midfielders in his draft year. He made his debut in the nineteen point loss to Richmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round nineteen of the 2017 season. Setterfield also played for Carlton between 2019 and 2022.
Sarah Hosking is an Australian rules footballer with the Richmond Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Carlton Football Club from 2017 to 2020. Hosking represented Victoria in the inaugural AFL Women's State of Origin match in 2017, and is the identical twin sister of Richmond team-mate Jess Hosking.
