8-469: 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. The Morrish Medal was first inaugurated in 1947, the year after
16-475: 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
24-569: The Australian Football League (AFL), 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
32-501: The Morrish Medal. Best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspension for misconduct or breaching the rules during that season. It is similar to most valuable player (MVP) awards in other team sports. In
40-455: The amount of three-vote games they were awarded, followed by two-vote games, etc. until a solitary winner could be found. 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. A player guilty of an offence deemed worthy of a suspension is ineligible to win
48-491: The formation of the Victorian Football League 's thirds competition. 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 . This continued throughout the history of the League's thirds, which was renamed to the under-19s in 1960. When the under-19s competition
56-710: The third-best player. The votes are counted at a gala function on the Monday preceding the Grand Final . The eligibility of suspended or reprimanded players due to minor offences to win the award has frequently been questioned. 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
64-399: 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. 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
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