Morrish Medal

Last updated

Morrish Medal
Awarded forThe best and fairest player in the Talent League Boys
CountryAustralia
Presented by Australian Football League
First awarded1947
Currently held byXavier Lindsay
Website Morrish Medal

The Morrish Medal is an award presented to the best and fairest player in the premier Victorian underage Australian rules football competition during the home-and-away season. Boasting an uninterrupted lineage from 1947 onwards, the medal is currently awarded to the highest vote-getter in the Talent League Boys competition.

Contents

History

The Morrish Medal was first inaugurated in 1947, the year after the formation of the Victorian Football League's thirds competition. [1] Named in honour of reserve grade treasurer Tom Morrish, who had held the position since 1922, the medal was to be awarded to the best-performing player across the season as adjudged by the field umpires. [2] This continued throughout the history of the League's thirds, which was renamed to the under-19s in 1960. When the under-19s competition was wound up at the conclusion of the 1991 Australian Football League season, to be replaced by the new Victorian State Football League under-18s competition, the decision was made to continue awarding the Morrish Medal.

Voting format

In the style of the Brownlow Medal and Gardiner Medal medals already awarded in the seniors and seconds competitions respectively, the presiding field umpire would cast a 3–2–1 vote at the conclusion of each match. The player with the most votes tallied following the end of the home-and-away season would then be presented with the medal. The initial voting method continues to this day, albeit with multiple field umpires now conferring to present a single set of votes for each match.

Until 1981, a count back rule identical to that of the Brownlow was used to split winners based on the amount of three-vote games they were awarded, followed by two-vote games, etc. until a solitary winner could be found. [3] In 1992, the League recognised three players who initially lost by count back – Jim McGowan (1961), Phillip Friedman (1974) and Jack Dinatale (1976) – and awarded them retrospective medals. [4]

Winners by season

YearPlayerClubVotesRef.
1947 Alan Dale Essendon [ ? ] [1]
1948 Ray Harvey Melbourne 22 [5]
1949Arthur Harbrow St Kilda [ ? ] [2]
1950 Noel Alford North Melbourne 23 [6]
1951Frank Williams Hawthorn 15 [7]
1952 Peter McPhee Footscray 17 [8]
1953 Dick Pratt Carlton 23 [9]
1954Alf Clarke Carlton 20 [10]
1955Dick Job Carlton 18 [2]
1956 Garry Rasmussen Hawthorn 17 [11]
1957Peter O'Reilly South Melbourne 30 [2]
1958Norman Bowler North Melbourne 17 [12]
1959Don Glassenbury Fitzroy 16 [13]
1960Gerard Ryan Footscray [ ? ] [2]
1961Terry Johnston Melbourne 15 [14]
Jim McGowan [lower-roman 1] South Melbourne [2]
1962 Kevin Egan Essendon [ ? ] [2]
1963John Schram Geelong [ ? ] [2]
1964Peter Gowans North Melbourne 18 [15]
1965Russell Petherbridge St Kilda [ ? ] [16]
1966Bruce Wright Fitzroy 16 [17]
1967Maurie Gale Carlton 17 [2]
1968 Paul Callery Melbourne 25 [18]
1969 Bill Gehling Richmond 17 [19]
1970 Ken Marks Fitzroy 25 [20]
1971Tim O'Malley Carlton 21 [2]
1972 [lower-roman 2] Vin Catoggio Carlton 23 [2]
Ian Kilmartin North Melbourne
1973Russell Bruerton South Melbourne 20 [2]
1974 [lower-roman 3] Russell Bruerton South Melbourne 22 [2]
Jack Dinatale Footscray
Phillip Friedman [lower-roman 1] Melbourne
1975Brian Jones South Melbourne [ ? ] [21]
1976 Jack Dinatale [lower-roman 1] Footscray 20 [2]
Craig Jamieson Richmond
1977 Darren Williams Essendon 20 [2]
1978 [lower-roman 2] Andrew McPhie Fitzroy 19 [2]
Stephen Simpson North Melbourne
1979Peter Banks Collingwood 30 [2]
1980Peter Lane Essendon [ ? ] [22]
1981 Adrian Battiston Melbourne 37 [23]
1982 Les Bamblett Melbourne 17 [24]
1983 Greg Healy Melbourne 17 [25]
1984 Tony Liberatore North Melbourne 22 [26]
1985Frank Zoccali Essendon 25 [27]
1986David Ross North Melbourne 21 [28]
1987 Wayne Schwass North Melbourne 17 [29]
1988 Tim McGrath North Melbourne 21 [30]
1989Brad Davies Essendon 18 [31]
1990Brendan Roberson Carlton 14 [32]
Clinton Watson North Melbourne [32]
1991 Gary Stevens Sydney [ ? ] [33]
1992Brad Smith Northern Knights 11 [34]
1993 Dean Watson Southern Stingrays 25 [35]
1994 Gary Moorcroft Northern Knights 17 [36]
1995 Paul Hood Geelong Falcons 26 [37]
1996 Nathan Brown Bendigo Pioneers 21 [38]
1997 Derek Murray Murray Bushrangers 20 [39]
1998 Lenny Hayes NSW/ACT Rams 21 [40]
1999Matthew Stolarczyk Gippsland Power 21 [41]
2000 David Rodan Calder Cannons 25 [42]
2001 David Rodan Calder Cannons 29 [43]
2002 Luke Shackleton Tassie Mariners 22 [44]
2003 Mungara Brown Northern Knights 25 [45]
2004 Matthew Bate Eastern Ranges 21 [46]
2005 Fortunato Caruso Calder Cannons 22 [47]
2006 Fortunato Caruso Calder Cannons 22 [48]
2007 Matthew Kreuzer Northern Knights 19 [49]
2008 Jarryd Blair Gippsland Power 18 [50]
Farran Priest Murray Bushrangers
2009 Anton Woods Northern Knights 24 [51]
2010 Dyson Heppell Gippsland Power 21 [52]
Jackson Sketcher Sandringham Dragons
2011 Alex Benbow Dandenong Stingrays 22 [53]
2012 Nick Graham Gippsland Power 17 [54]
2013 George Cameron Geelong Falcons 17 [55]
Ben Cavarra Eastern Ranges
Jacob Chisari Bendigo Pioneers
Josh Scott Gippsland Power
2014 Alex Carr Gippsland Power 17 [56]
2015 Clayton Oliver Murray Bushrangers 15 [57]
2016 Hugh McCluggage North Ballarat Rebels 16 [58]
2017 Jack Higgins Oakleigh Chargers 22 [59]
2018 Liam Stocker Sandringham Dragons 19 [60]
2019 Lucas Rocci Western Jets 17 [61]
2020not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic [62]
2021 Flynn Lakey Calder Cannons 12 [63]
Josh Rentsch Greater Western Victoria Rebels
2022 Taj Campbell-Farrell Dandenong Stingrays 18 [64]
Lachlan Cowan Tasmania Devils
2023 Patrick Hughes Geelong Falcons 18 [65]
Colby McKercher Tasmania Devils
2024 Xavier Lindsay Gippsland Power 21 [66] [67]


  1. 1 2 3 Medal was awarded retrospectively, as a countback rule was applied until 1980.
  2. 1 2 Medal was adjudged a tie and shared between both players as they could not be split by the countback rule.
  3. ↑ Medal was initially adjudged a tie and shared between Bruerton and Dinatale as they could not be split by the countback rule.

Ineligible players who polled more votes than winner

A player guilty of an offence deemed worthy of a suspension is ineligible to win the Morrish Medal.

PlayerClubYearVotesOutcome
Daryl Vernon Richmond 197819Suspended; would have been joint winner with McPhie and Simpson, as the trio could not be separated by the countback rule.
Brad Chapman Fitzroy 199020Suspended; would have won outright, beating Robertson and Watson by six votes.
Domenic Berry Hawthorn 15Polled second-highest number of votes and would have won had he not been suspended. [32]

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References

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  12. ↑ "North Player Takes Award". The Age . 13 August 1958. p. 20.
  13. ↑ "Fitzroy Player Best in Thirds". The Age . 19 August 1959. p. 22.
  14. ↑ "Morrish Medal to Johnston". The Age . 23 August 1961. p. 18.
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  32. 1 2 3 Johnston, Nicholas (6 September 1990). "Stretch setback worries Demons". The Age . p. 28.
  33. ↑ Kogoy, Peter (29 September 1991). "Roos triumph in swansong". Sydney Morning Herald . p. 61.
  34. ↑ Browne, Ashley (2 September 1992). "Northern back takes Morrish Medal". The Age . p. 28.
  35. ↑ Linnell, Garry; Linnell, Stephen (1 September 1993). "Brewery courts second club". The Age . p. 30.
  36. ↑ "Gary wins Morrish Medal". Football Record . 10 September 1994. p. 60.
  37. ↑ "Falcon runaway Morrish winner". Football Record . 8 September 1995. p. 60.
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  44. ↑ Stockdale, David (16 September 2002). "Mariner claims Morrish Medal". The Mercury . p. 37.
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  47. ↑ Williams, Rebecca (6 September 2005). "Tiny gun's medal". Herald Sun . p. 91.
  48. ↑ Quayle, Emma (12 September 2006). "Un-Fortunato Caruso, the short bloke ignored by AFL". The Age . p. 4.
  49. ↑ Quayle, Emma; Walker, Chris (11 September 2007). "Kreuzer stands tall to win Morrish Medal". The Age . p. 5.
  50. ↑ Harris, Amelia (15 September 2008). "Heavenly Sunday for young Priest". Herald Sun . p. 53.
  51. ↑ Jolly, Laura (23 September 2009). "Woods claims 2009 medal". Whittlesea Leader . p. 46.
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  60. ↑ Balmer, Matt (2 September 2018). "AFL Draft 2018: Sandringham Dragons' Liam Stocker boosts first round credentials with TAC Cup Morrish Medal". Fox Sports (Australia) . Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  61. ↑ Balmer, Matt (25 August 2019). "AFL Draft 2019: Western Jets' Lucas Rocci becomes club's first ever Morrish Medal winner". Fox Sports (Australia) . Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  62. ↑ Twomey, Callum (4 August 2020). "AFL cancels NAB League for 2020". afl.com.au . Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
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