Geelong's Cam Guthrie, West Coast's Nic Naitanui and Hawthorn's Jack Gunston all won their club's best and fairests in 2020. Pictures: Instagram

IN A season like none in history, it's only fitting that the club awards season threw up a record 16 first-time winners of best and fairest awards. 

After every club held their count last year, Carlton's best and fairest was held in February, having initially been delayed so the Blues could hand retiring greats Kade Simpson and Matthew Kreuzer fitting farewells in front of members in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it was ultimately held at Ikon Park on Friday night due to continued postponements.

Of the 18 clubs' champions crowned in 2020, only Sydney's Jake Lloyd, Brisbane's Lachie Neale and GWS joint winner Lachie Whitfield had previously won a B&F. 

ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM Check out who made the cut

Check out the top 10 of every club's best and fairest award below. 

Adelaide Crows

Malcolm Blight Medal
How they vote: The Crows introduced a new voting structure this season, awarding players on a 0-10 scale based on their impact in each of the Crows' performances. 

Top 10
1. Reilly O'Brien – 81 votes
2. Rory Laird – 80
3. Luke Brown – 76
4. Matt Crouch – 72
5. Ben Keays – 65
6. Brodie Smith – 61
7. Shane McAdam – 56
8. Kyle Hartigan – 54
9. Tom Lynch – 53
10. Rory Sloane – 51

Brisbane Lions

Merrett-Murray Medal
How they vote: Coach Chris Fagan and his five assistant coaches each give a maximum of four votes after each game based on the player's overall performance, delivery of team criteria and execution of team trademarks. The maximum votes for any game is 24.

1. Lachie Neale 305 votes
2. Jarryd Lyons 269
3. Hugh McCluggage 237
4. Oscar McInerney 212
5. Dayne Zorko 206
6. Harris Andrews 201
7. Darcy Gardiner 197
8. Charlie Cameron 189
9. Zac Bailey 183
10. Eric Hipwood 182 

17:16

Carlton

John Nicholls Medal
How they vote: Carlton's best and fairest is decided by the senior coach and three assistants giving as many players as they like between 0-4 votes per match. It means the most votes any player can receive for one single game is 16.

Top 10
1. Jacob Weitering (137 votes)
2. Sam Walsh (126 votes)
3. Ed Curnow (103 votes)
4. Lachie Plowman (95 votes)
5. Liam Jones (83 votes)
6. Jack Martin (81 votes)
7. Sam Docherty (76 votes)
8. Levi Casboult (75 votes)
9. Patrick Cripps (73 votes)
10. Kade Simpson (68 votes)

Collingwood

E.W. Copeland Trophy
How they vote: The five members of the coaching panel each award up to 22 votes for each game (there is no minimum). The player then gets an average score for each game. 

Top 10
1. Taylor Adams - 100 votes
2. Scott Pendlebury - 71 votes
3. Jack Crisp - 63 votes
4. Darcy Moore - 62 votes
5. Brayden Maynard - 59 votes
6. Josh Daicos - 50 votes
=7. Jamie Elliott - 47 votes
=7. Brodie Grundy - 47 votes
=9. Brody Mihocek - 46 votes
=9. John Noble - 46 votes

Essendon

Crichton Medal
How they vote: Five coaches rate all players from zero to five in every game for the year, meaning each player can poll a maximum of 25 votes per match.

Top 10
1. Jordan Ridley - 333 votes
2. Zach Merrett - 308
3. Adam Saad - 292
4. Kyle Langford - 281
5. Andrew McGrath - 270
6. Darcy Parish - 263
7. Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti - 261
8. Devon Smith - 253
9. Will Snelling - 247
10. Dylan Shiel - 239

Fremantle

Doig Medal
How they vote: 
Senior coach Justin Longmuir and four other members of the Fremantle coaching staff were involved in the Doig Medal voting process, with each coach allocating up to five votes per player per round.

Top 10
1. Luke Ryan - 207 votes
2. Nat Fyfe - 167
3. Adam Cerra - 150
4. Andrew Brayshaw - 150
5. David Mundy - 150
6. Matt Taberner - 125
7. Ethan Hughes - 124
8. Michael Walters - 120
9. Caleb Serong - 103
10. James Aish - 94

Geelong Cats

'Carji' Greeves Medal 
How they vote: After each game, the coaches rate each player's performance out of 15. The combined votes are then averaged to give a final score for that game. To ensure players aren't disadvantaged by injuries or being managed, each player's highest scoring 20 games of the season are added together to give a final score. Therefore, if a player played all 21 games, his lowest-scoring game will be eliminated from the total.

Top 10
1. Cameron Guthrie - 228 votes
2. Tom Hawkins - 224
3. Mark Blicavs - 221
4. Patrick Dangerfield - 214.5
5. Mitch Duncan 213.5
6. Sam Menegola - 210
7. Jed Bews - 208.5
8. Jack Henry - 205 
9. Mark O'Connor - 202
10. Gryan Miers - 194.5 

Gold Coast Suns

Club Champion Award
How they vote: Gold Coast's five-man match committee awarded votes to an unlimited number of players each match, with players able to receive a maximum of 10 votes from each judge, meaning a maximum of 50 votes for any match.

Top 10
1. Sam Collins - 339 votes
2. Touk Miller - 335
3. Jarrod Witts - 327
4. Hugh Greenwood - 291
5. Brandon Ellis - 279
6. Noah Anderson - 273
7. Lachie Weller - 243
8. Wil Powell - 231
=9. Jack Bowes - 223
=9. Jack Lukosius - 223 

GWS Giants

Kevin Sheedy Medal 
How they vote: Leon Cameron and his assistants vote on the award. Up to four votes can be awarded to a player by each coach every round, meaning each player is able to receive a maximum of 16 votes per round.


=1. Lachie Whitfield - 98 votes 
=1. Nick Haynes - 98  
 3. Harry Perryman - 96 
=4. Jacob Hopper - 79 
=4. Josh Kelly - 79 
 6. Brent Daniels - 69 
=7. Toby Greene - 68
=7. Matt de Boer - 68 
 9. Aidan Corr - 66
10. Stephen Coniglio - 58

Hawthorn

Peter Crimmins Medal
How they vote: Hawthorn's match committee voted after each home and away season game, and players could receive a maximum of 16 votes in a match.

Top 10
1. Jack Gunston - 102 votes
2. Tom Mitchell - 96
3. Chad Wingard - 73
4. Ben McEvoy - 71
=5. Liam Shiels - 61
=5. James Sicily - 61
=5. James Worpel - 61 
=8. Jaeger O'Meara - 59
=8. Sam Frost - 59
10. Will Day - 53

Melbourne

Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Memorial Trophy
How they vote: A total of 40 votes were on offer for each player per match and were awarded by coach Simon Goodwin and three line coaches.

Top 10
1. Christian Petracca - 385 votes 
2. Steven May - 362 
3. Jack Viney - 311 
4. Ed Langdon - 296 
5. Clayton Oliver - 291 
6. Max Gawn - 234 
7. Christian Salem - 208 
8. Angus Brayshaw - 186 
9. Michael Hibberd - 179 
10. Sam Weideman - 172

North Melbourne

Syd Barker Medal
How they vote: Players can poll up to 20 votes in a game.

Top 10
1 Luke McDonald – 183 votes
2 Jy Simpkin - 140
3 Jed Anderson - 138
4 Todd Goldstein  - 131 
5 Trent Dumont - 128
6 Robbie Tarrant - 93
7 Josh Walker - 92
8 Shaun Higgins - 88
9 Ben McKay - 75
10 Cameron Zurhaar – 70

John Cahill Medal
How they vote: Each member of the senior coaching panel awards votes on a 0-5 basis for every player’s performance in each game. A player can therefore earn between zero and 25 votes per game.

Top 10
1. Darcy Byrne-Jones - 159
2. Travis Boak - 136
3. Tom Jonas - 123
4. Zak Butters - 121
5 = Trent McKenzie - 116
5 = Ollie Wines - 116
7. Dan Houston - 114
8. Tom Rockliff - 113
9. Charlie Dixon - 108
10. Karl Amon - 96

Richmond

Jack Dyer Medal 
How they vote: The coaches award every player between zero and five votes after every game, including finals.

Top 10
1. Jayden Short - 53 votes
2. Dustin Martin - 50
3. Nick Vlastuin - 49
4. Shai Bolton - 44
5. Kamdyn McIntosh - 43
6. Liam Baker - 42
7. Dylan Grimes - 41
8. Noah Balta - 40
9. Kane Lambert - 39
10. Trent Cotchin - 37

Jayden Short with his 2020 Jack Dyer Medal. Picture: richmondfc.com.au

St Kilda

Trevor Barker Award
How they vote: The coaches vote independently of each other after every match, giving between zero and four votes to every player.

Top 10
1. Jack Steele - 207 votes
2. Dan Butler - 126
3. Dougal Howard - 122
4. Rowan Marshall - 120
5. Nick Coffield - 119
6. Zak Jones - 117
7. Callum Wilkie - 113
8. Paddy Ryder - 107
9. Hunter Clark - 100
10. Sebastian Ross - 92

Sydney Swans

Bob Skilton Medal
How they vote: Club champion votes are awarded by the five Swans coaching staff, with coaches able to allocate up to 10 votes for each player for a maximum of 50 in any game.

Top 10
1. Jake Lloyd - 421 votes
2. Luke Parker - 357
3. Tom Papley - 341
4. Dane Rampe - 221
5. Harry Cunningham - 211
6. Callum Mills - 203
7. James Rowbottom - 198
8. Josh Kennedy - 195
9. Jordan Dawson - 182
10. Oliver Florent - 177

West Coast Eagles

John Worsfold Medal
How they vote: Five members of the match committee award each player up to three votes. Each player can get a maximum of 15 per game. 

2020 John Worsfold Medal top 10  

1. Nic Naitanui - 194
2. Andrew Gaff - 192
3. Brad Sheppard - 163
4. Tom Barrass - 154
5. Liam Duggan - 152
6. Liam Ryan - 150
7. Tim Kelly - 148
8. Jack Darling - 145
9. Josh Kennedy - 131 
10. Shannon Hurn - 127

Western Bulldogs

Charles Sutton Medal
How they vote: Five members of the Bulldogs’ match committee award a score from zero to five for each player after every game.

Top 10
1. Caleb Daniel - 205 votes
2. Marcus Bontempelli - 195
3. Tom Liberatore - 160
4. Jack Macrae - 154
5. Bailey Williams - 121
6. Alex Keath - 118
7. Bailey Smith - 105
8. Tim English - 89
9. Lachie Hunter - 84
10. Mitch Wallis - 83