Geoff Christian Medal

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The medal features an image of sports broadcaster Geoff Christian, after whom it is named. Geoff Christian Medal.jpg
The medal features an image of sports broadcaster Geoff Christian, after whom it is named.

The Geoff Christian Medal, commonly referred to as the Christian Medal, is an Australian rules football award given to the best player in the Australian Football League (AFL) from one of the two teams based in Western Australia, the Fremantle Football Club and the West Coast Eagles. First awarded during the 1999 season, the award is named after and struck in honour of Geoff Christian (1934–1998), a sports writer and broadcaster who served as chief football writer for The West Australian between 1961 and 1988, before being posthumously inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame and the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and 2004, respectively. [1]

Votes for the medal are awarded by ABC Radio commentators on a 3–2–1 basis at the end of each match. [2] The most recent medal, awarded at the end of the 2019 regular season, was won by Fremantle's Nat Fyfe. [3] The award has been won multiple times by six players, Matthew Pavlich, Paul Hasleby, Nat Fyfe and Neale of Fremantle, and Daniel Kerr and Matt Priddis of West Coast. Fyfe has won the medal five times, the only player to do so. [3]

List of winners

Votes tallies prior to 2002 are unknown.
YearNameClubVotes
1999 Adrian Fletcher Fremantle
2000 Troy Cook
Paul Hasleby
Fremantle
Fremantle
2001 Ben Cousins West Coast
2002 Matthew Pavlich Fremantle 22
2003 Peter Bell Fremantle 28
2004 Paul Hasleby (2) Fremantle 27
2005 Matthew Pavlich (2) Fremantle 26
2006 Chris Judd West Coast 18
2007 Daniel Kerr West Coast 26
2008 Matthew Pavlich (3) Fremantle 29
2009 Aaron Sandilands Fremantle 25
2010 Beau Waters West Coast 19
2011 Matt Priddis West Coast 28
2012 Daniel Kerr (2) West Coast 24
2013 Nat Fyfe Fremantle 31
2014 Matt Priddis (2) West Coast 38
2015 Nat Fyfe (2) Fremantle 33
2016 Lachie Neale Fremantle 38
2017 Nat Fyfe (3) Fremantle 24
2018 Lachie Neale (2) Fremantle 23
2019 Nat Fyfe (4) Fremantle 26
2020 Nat Fyfe (5) Fremantle 20
2021 Andrew Brayshaw Fremantle 30
2022 Andrew Brayshaw (2) Fremantle
2023 Caleb Serong Fremantle 38

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References

  1. Wheeldon, Clint (2011). West Coast Eagle's [sic] Matt Priddis wins Christian medal720 ABC Perth. Published 5 September 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  2. Christian Medal 2007720 ABC Perth. Published 26 October 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 Bryans, Aaron (19 August 2019). "Fyfe wins fourth Geoff Christian Medal". ABC Radio. Retrieved 28 August 2019.