THERE is never an ordinary footballer who wins a club best-and-fairest award.
It takes a terrific feat of consistency across a whole season to rack up enough votes to stand out as the champion player of any club, and the winners are rightly feted as achieving one of the two most important awards that can be won in any football club.
So who were the 12 champion players (plus the top 10 vote-getters) in the 2021 VFLW season?
CARLTON BLUES
Voting system: Four coaches score each player from 0-4 based on their performance in the game, with four votes reserved for a player deemed to have put in a competition-wide best-on-ground performance. Players can poll up to 16 votes per match.
1. Akayla Peterson 56
2. Maddy Guerin 41
3. Jennifer Lew 39
4. Paige Trudgeon 38
5. Courtney Jones 37
6. Jorja Borg 36
7. Stephanie Lawrence 32
8. Lucy McEvoy 28
9. Esther Honybun 25
10. Natalie Plane 23
CASEY DEMONS
Voting system: Four coaches each award 5-4-3-2-1 on every game, meaning a player can poll up to 20 votes per match.
1. Eliza West 140
2. Casey Sherriff 83
3. Shree Fairchild 59
4. Sammie Johnson 55
5. Meg Macdonald 51
6. Imogen Milford 41
7. Nicole Hales 35
8. Jackie Parry 34
9. Eliza McNamara 33
10. Libby Birch 32
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES
Voting system: Four coaches award 5-4-3-2-1 after each home-and-away match, meaning a player can poll up to 20 votes per game. Finals are not included.
1. Imogen Barnett 70
2. Mikala Cann 61
2. Caitlin Bunker 61
4. Jasmine Ferguson 60
5. Marla Neal 40
6. Kristy Stratton 37
6. Jennifer Guy 37
8. Sophie Alexander 36
8. Matilda Zander 36
10. Maddie Shevlin 31
DAREBIN FALCONS
Voting system: Three voters each award 5-4-3-2-1 per game, meaning a player can poll up to 15 votes each week.
1. Nicole Callinan 70
2. Gena Lawson-Tavan 63
3. Kathleen Roe 62
4. Victoria Blackwood 60
5. Samara David 56
6. Stephanie Simpson 42
7. Jessica Dal Pos 41
8. Alyssa Mifsud 39
9. Sidney Cubasch 36
10. Lucy Schneider 33
EVERY CLUB’S LIST Your squad for the 2022 season
ESSENDON BOMBERS
Voting system: Five coaches award 5-4-3-2-1 after each match, meaning a player can poll up to 25 votes per game.
1. Eloise Ashley-Cooper 259
2. Alex Morcom 242
3. Alana Barba 234
4. Mia-Rae Clifford 215
5. Cecilia McIntosh 213
6. Marianna Anthony 212
7. Kendra Heil 205
8. Nat MacDonald 204
8. Courtney Ugle 204
10. Georgia Nanscawen 203
GEELONG CATS
Voting system: The coach and the assistant coaches (combined) each vote 5-4-3-2-1 after every match, meaning a player can poll up to 10 votes in a game.
1. Claudia Gunjaca 72
2. Paige Sheppard 70
3. Annabel Johnson 37
4. Becky Webster 34
5. Olivia Fuller 32
6. Darcy Moloney 29
7. Sophie Van De Heuvel 23
8. Maddie Keryk 21
9. Olivia Barber 20
10. Laura Gardiner 19
HAWTHORN HAWKS
Voting system: Three coaches vote 5-4-3-2-1 on each match, meaning a player can poll up to 15 votes per game.
1. Tamara Luke 69
2. Catherine Brown 64
3. Meg Hutchins 61
4. Jenna Richardson 45
5. Jessie Williams 35
6. Kristy Stratton 33
7. Dom Carbone 25
8. Kristen Hay 23
8. Izzy Khoury 23
10. Nicole Cormack 22
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS
Voting system: The coach and assistant coaches (collectively) score each player from 0-10 after every game, meaning a player can poll up to 20 votes per game.
1. Meagan Kiely 193
2. Molly Eastman 164
3. Sarah Skinner 163
4. Alexia Hamilton 159
5. Jess Mourney 134
6. Airlie Runnalls 133
7. Kira Price 121
8. Reni Hicks 117
9. Ciara Fitzgerald 105
10. Laura Wright 96
PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH
Voting system: Three coaches could give as many players as they liked up to five votes per match, meaning a player could poll up to 15 votes each week.
1. Claire Dyett 119
2. Courtney Bromage 105
2. Melissa Kuys 105
4. Holly Bailey 85
5. Emily Harley 84
6. Olivia Barton 77
7. Sophie Locke 76
8. Hannah McLaren 74
9. Nayely Borg 72
10. Laura McClelland 69
SOUTHERN SAINTS
Voting system: Four coaches award each player a score of 0-3 after every match, meaning an unlimited number of players could poll up to 12 votes per game.
- Tara Bohanna 94
- Hannah Stuart 83
- Gabriella De Angelis 74
- Alice Burke 69
- Ali Hynes 60
- Lucy Burke 56
- Rebecca Neaves 54
- Deanna Jolliffe 52
- Madi Capsalis 48
- Molly McDonald 34
WESTERN BULLDOGS
Voting system: Coaches award each player a score out of five after every match. These scores are then averaged to give the player a single score for the round.
1. Simone Ruedin 36.25
2. Amanda Tessari 30.17
3. Katelyn Betts 27.58
4. Annabel Scott 26.58
5. Issy Pritchard 24.50
6. Eliza Vale 24.17
7. Brooke Hards 23.00
7. Nicole McMahon 23.00
9. Gemma Lagioia 22.25
10. Issy Grant 22.08
10. Danielle Marshall 22.08
WILLIAMSTOWN SEAGULLS
Voting system: Four voters give each player a score of 0-4, meaning an unlimited number of players can poll up to 16 votes each in a game.
1. Ruby Tripodi 104
2. Aimee Whelan 100
3. Eliza Straford 91
4. Erin Meade 72
5. Ash Melnikas 62
6. Ella Baxter 58
7. Paige Nash 54
8. Megan Williamson 47
9. Gabrielle Biedenweg-Webster 44
10. Lisa Steane 40
