by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago
Geelong's 2007 Rising Star winner Joel Selwood has added another award to his bulging trophy cabinet with his first best and fairest award. Selwood polled a whopping 667 votes, 20 votes ahead of 2009 winner Gary Ablett. He was named as best on ground by the match committee in six of the 24 games he played this year.
It was a tough night for the club, with Coach Mark Thompson making an emotional speech after informing the club he needed a break. Gary Ablett, who is departing for the Gold Coast, received a standing ovation and thanked the club and his teammates. Club president Frank Costa, who has overseen the club's on and off-field success in partnership with Thompson and CEO Brian Cook, also announced that he would be stepping down.
The Voting: five members of the match committee can award a maximum of 10 votes to a maximum of 10 players per game.
Top Ten
Joel Selwood - 667
Gary Ablett - 647
James Kelly - 589
Corey Enright - 576
Paul Chapman - 565
Jimmy Bartel - 560
Cameron Ling - 460
Steve Johnson - 414
Travis Varcoe - 365 (20)
Matthew Scarlett - 338 (18)
Other Awards:
Best Clubman: Tom Lonergan
Community Champion Award: Nathan Djerrkura and Travis Varcoe
Leading Goalkicker: Steve Johnson
Best First Year Player: James Podsiadly
Source: afl.com.au
Docker midfielder David Mundy has won the club's 2010 best and fairest award. Mundy polled 190 votes to finish ahead of 2009 winner Aaron Sandilands. Coming in third was Matthew Pavlich who has won a record five club awards. Mundy, who just signed a new four year contract, had his best season this year. He played 22 games and averaged 22 disposals per game. He provided an excellent target for Sandilands' ruck taps and was an excellent ball winner whose precision ball delivery skills were a highlight of his game. Sandilands and Mundy were running neck-and-neck until the finals series when Mundy pulled ahead.
The voting is done by the coaching staff who award votes on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis with the top votes being awarded for an exceptional performance. (Note: full voting details are not available).
Other Awards:
Best First Year Player: Michael Barlow
Best Clubman: Matt de Boer
Life Membership: Aaron Sandilands and Luke McPharlin
Source: Luke Morfesse, Club Media Release
Hawthorn's Luke Hodge has won the 2010 Peter Crimmins Award. He polled 167 votes to finish 45 votes ahead of star forward Lance Franklin on 122 votes. 2009 winner Sam Mitchell finished third with 112 votes. It was also announced that Hodge would be taking over the captaincy from Mitchell next season. Of the 22 games he played for the year, the voting panel judged him the best in eight of those games. Hodge was also named All-Australian for a third time, having previously been named in 2005 and 2008.
The medal is named in honor of former champion captain Peter Crimmins who played in Hawthorn's 1971 premiership team. Crimmins missed the 1974 season due to cancer treatment. He returned to play a few games in 1975 but the cancer returned and he had to undergo further treatment. He listened to the Hawks Grand Final win in 1976 from his sickbed. A number of his teammates visited him later that evening with the Premiership Cup. A few days later, Crimmins passed away. His widow Gwen was at the ceremony to present the medal.
The Voting: four members of the Match Committee can award up to 4 votes per player per game. The maximum number of votes a player can receive per game is 16.
Top 10
Luke Hodge - 167
Lance Franklin - 122
Sam Mitchell - 112
Cyril Rioli - 110
Jordan Lewis - 90
Ben Stratton - 87
Shaun Burgoyne -86
Jarryd Roughead - 85
Brent Guerra - 83
Brent Renouf - 81
Other Awards:
Best First Year Player - Ben Stratton
Most Improved Player: Brent Renouf
Most Consistent Player: Luke Hodge
Best Clubman: Tom Murphy
Source: Clinton Brown, Club Media Release
Article last changed on Wednesday, October 06, 2010 - 8:29 PM EDT
