Deledio wins second Tigers B&F

A BARNSTORMING finish to the season has seen Brett Deledio beat Daniel Jackson and skipper Chris Newman in the race for this year’s Jack Dyer Medal as Richmond's best and fairest.

Deledio also won the award last year, and becomes the youngest back-to-back winner at the club since Kevin Bartlett in 1967-68 and the youngest in the AFL since Michael Voss at Brisbane in 1995-96.

Jackson, who received the most improved player award earlier in the night, led from round 12 to round 20, but was overtaken by Deledio in the penultimate round.

Going into the final match of the year against West Coast at Subiaco, only two votes separated the pair, but Deledio collected 14 votes to Jackson’s one to clinch the prize.

Deledio topped the disposal count for the Tigers with 533 at an average of 24.2 per game, and also had the most inside-50s. He had 20 disposals or more 19 times throughout the season, with a career-high 36 against Hawthorn at the MCG in round 21. His goals saw him finish fourth on the Tigers’ goalkicking list.

Jackson was third in the total disposals with 507 at an average of 23 per game, a huge improvement on the 11.9 he averaged in the previous five years, and allowed him to finish in the top 10 for the first time.

Rookie skipper Newman led the club in rebounding, and his third place was his fifth top-10 finish medal.

Ben Cousins finished fifth, despite missing seven games.

The voting system for the Jack Dyer Medal:

After each game, the five members of the Club’s match committee cast votes for each of the team’s 22 players. Each player receives zero to five votes from each member, so the most an individual player can poll in a match is 25 votes. Five votes are awarded for an outstanding performance, four for an excellent game, down to zero if the player is well beaten on the day.

Other award winners were:

Bill Cosgrove/Harry Jenkins Best First Year Player:  Robin Nahas
Francis Bourke Award:  Luke McGuane
Michael Roach Award for Leading Goalkicker:  Mitch Morton
Most Improved Player:  Daniel Jackson
Kevin Bartlett Medal  (5th place in the Best and Fairest):  Ben Cousins
Fred Swift Medal  (4th place in the B & F):  Richard Tambling
Maurie Fleming Medal  (3rd place in the B & F):  Chris Newman
Jack Titus Medal  (2nd place in the B & F):  Daniel Jackson
Jack Dyer Medal  (1st place in the B & F):  Brett Deledio

Place	Player	Votes
1	Brett Deledio	190
2	Daniel Jackson	175
3	Chris Newman	162
4	Richard Tambling	152
5	Ben Cousins	145
6	Nathan Foley	128
7	Shane Tuck	124
8	Jack Riewoldt	121
9	Dean Polo	118
10	Mitch Morton	115