# 2009 AFL Army Award

    For main article please see: AFL Army Award
The Australian Football League celebrates the best act of selflessness or one percenter of the season through the annual AFL Army Award competition. The 2009 winner was Tom Hawkins of Geelong for his "brilliant smother followed by chase and tackle" in round 22.

## Nominations and winners

2009 AFL Army Award nominations :
| Nominee | Club | % of votes | Opponent | Description |
| Round 1 |||||
| Zac Dawson | St Kilda | 29% | Sydney | Strong shepherd on Sydney Swan hard man Barry Hall. |
| James Kelly | Geelong | 67% | Hawthorn | Multiple efforts before tapping ball into the path of a team mate. |
| Joel Macdonald | Brisbane Lions | 4% | West Coast | Brilliant smother. |
| Round | Report | Nominees | Team | % of Votes | Match | Note |
| 2 | Nominations | Aaron Davey | Melbourne | 24% | Collingwood v Melbourne | Brilliant chase down tackle on Marty Clarke |
| 2 | Nominations | Campbell Brown | Hawthorn | 51% | Sydney vs Hawthorn | Courageous smother in front of goal |
| 2 | Nominations | Ben McKinley | West Coast | 25% | West Coast vs Port Adelaide | Fantastic chase and tackle |
| 3 | Nominations | Eric MacKenzie | West Coast | 9% | St Kilda vs West Coast | Brilliant slide on the goal line to save a goal |
| 3 | Nominations | Luke Ball | St Kilda | 82% | St Kilda vs West Coast | Great diving smother on Quinten Lynch |
| 3 | Nominations | Nathan Eagleton | Western Bulldogs | 9% | Western Bulldogs vs Richmond | Persistent spoil and tackle |
| 4 | Nominations | Luke Hodge | Hawthorn | 21% | Hawthorn vs Port Adelaide | Persistent chase and tackle on Tom Logan |
| 4 | Nominations | Eric MacKenzie | West Coast | 35% | West Coast vs Western Bulldogs | Great smother in front of goal |
| 4 | Nominations | Ricky Dyson | Essendon | 44% | North Melbourne vs Essendon | Courageous chase and tackle on Drew Petrie |
| 5 | Nominations | Shane O'Bree | Collingwood | 10% | Essendon vs Collingwood | Skillful tackle to gain possession and tap on to a teammate. |
| 5 | Nominations | Drew Petrie | North Melbourne | 11% | North Melbourne vs Richmond | Courageous chase and tackle |
| 5 | Nominations | Lenny Hayes | St Kilda | 79% | Port Adelaide vs St Kilda | Gutsy diving smother |
| 6 | Nominations | Joel Macdonald | Brisbane Lions | 17% | Brisbane Lions vs Essendon | Showed courage when executing a spoil |
| 6 | Nominations | Martin Mattner | Sydney | 58% | Sydney vs Richmond | Brilliant chase and tackle on Jack Riewoldt |
| 6 | Nominations | Luke Hodge | Hawthorn | 25% | Hawthorn vs Carlton | Spoiled, tackled then handballed to team mate |
| 7 | Nominations | Daniel Cross | Western Bulldogs | 12% | Adelaide vs Western Bulldogs | Clinical smother on Tyson Edwards |
| 7 | Nominations | Jared Rivers | Melbourne | 38% | West Coast vs Melbourne | Extremely courageous attempt to mark |
| 7 | Nominations | Bryce Gibbs | Carlton | 50% | Carlton vs Fremantle | Great chase and tackle on Luke McPharlin |
| 8 | Nominations | Barry Hall | Sydney | 60% | Sydney vs West Coast | Courageous spoil, then tap to team mate |
| 8 | Nominations | Heath Scotland | Carlton | 23% | Collingwood vs Carlton | Phenomenal courage when spoiling a mark |
| 8 | Nominations | Nathan Lovett-Murray | Essendon | 17% | St Kilda vs Essendon | Three efforts then tackled causing a turnover |
| 9 | Nominations | Mark Austin | Carlton | 24% | Adelaide vs Carlton | Multiple spoils followed by dual tackles |
| 9 | Nominations | Michael Osborne | Hawthorn | 16% | Hawthorn vs Melbourne | Effective support and shepherding |
| 9 | Nominations | Matt White | Richmond | 60% | Richmond vs Essendon | Fast paced chase and tackle |
| 10 | Nominations | Travis Varcoe | Geelong | 67% | Essendon vs Geelong | Double tackle and smother |
| 10 | Nominations | Antoni Grover | Fremantle | 20% | Fremantle vs Richmond | Defensive spoil in mid flight |
| 10 | Nominations | Daniel Rich | Brisbane Lions | 13% | North Melbourne vs Brisbane Lions | Courageous spoil |
| 11 | Nominations | Adam Simpson | North Melbourne | 27% | North Melbourne vs St Kilda | Brilliant smother on Jason Gram |
| 11 | Nominations | Scott McMahon | North Melbourne | 54% | North Melbourne vs St Kilda | Courageous smother on Clinton Jones |
| 11 | Nominations | Ben McGlynn | Hawthorn | 19% | Hawthorn vs Sydney | Gutsy chase and dive to spoil Michael O'Loughlin |
| 12 | Nominations | Darren Glass | West Coast | 25% | Richmond vs West Coast | Diving smother to spoil Tom Hislop |
| 12 | Nominations | Brad Green | Melbourne | 43% | Essendon vs Melbourne | Gutsy attempt to spoil the mark |
| 12 | Nominations | Dean Solomon | Fremantle | 32% | Fremantle vs Geelong | Courageous dive on the ball |
| 13 | Nominations | Dustin Fletcher | Essendon | 12% | Essendon vs Carlton | Spoiled a mark then smothered a kick |
| 13 | Nominations | Alwyn Davey | Essendon | 12% | Essendon vs Carlton | Chase-down and tackle |
| 13 | Nominations | Patrick Dangerfield | Adelaide | 76% | Adelaide vs Sydney | Smother resulting in a pivotal goal |
| 14 | Nominations | Josh Hill | Western Bulldogs | 23% | Western Bulldogs vs Hawthorn | Strong spoil of an overhead, chase and tackle |
| 14 | Nominations | Ryan Griffen | Western Bulldogs | 47% | Western Bulldogs vs Hawthorn | Brilliant goal saving smother |
| 14 | Nominations | Brett Ebert | Port Adelaide | 30% | Port Adelaide vs Brisbane Lions | Courageous chase and tackle to turnover for a goal |
| 15 | Nominations | Nathan Eagleton | Western Bulldogs | 47% | Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood | Courageous interception running back in full flight |
| 15 | Nominations | Michael Hurley | Essendon | 30% | Sydney vs Essendon | Gutsy goal saving smother |
| 15 | Nominations | Tayte Pears | Essendon | 23% | Sydney vs Essendon | Strong chase down and tackle |
| 16 | Nominations | Jake King | Richmond | 22% | Richmond vs North Melbourne | Gutsy double tackle resulting in turnover |
| 16 | Nominations | James Frawley | Melbourne | 11% | Geelong vs Melbourne | Strong chase down and tackle |
| 16 | Nominations | Jacob Surjan | Port Adelaide | 67% | Port Adelaide vs West Coast | Courageous smother in front of goal |
| 17 | Nominations | Tim Ruffles | Fremantle | 27% | Fremantle vs West Coast | Courageous attempt to mark running with the flight |
| 17 | Nominations | Nick Riewoldt | St Kilda | 20% | St Kilda vs Western Bulldogs | Great second effort to smother |
| 17 | Nominations | Cameron Mooney | Geelong | 53% | Geelong vs Hawthorn | Fearless marking attempt |
| 18 | Nominations | Aaron Davey | Melbourne | 37% | Melbourne vs Richmond | Takes on two Richmond opponents and wins possession |
| 18 | Nominations | Darren Glass | West Coast | 31% | West Coast vs Essendon | Strong defensive effort and smother to save a certain goal |
| 18 | Nominations | Ryan Griffen | Western Bulldogs | 32% | Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle | Great 100m chase and tackle against Fremantle's Grover |
| 19 | Nominations | Jarrod Atkinson | Essendon | 19% | Essendon vs Brisbane Lions | Athletic smother and rebound from Essendon's defence |
| 19 | Nominations | Dustin Fletcher | Essendon | 24% | Essendon vs Brisbane Lions | Strong spoil, great second effort smother and clearance |
| 19 | Nominations | Brett Kirk | Sydney | 57% | Richmond vs Sydney | Won a contested ball, then tapped to teammates advantage |
| 20 | Nominations | Lance Franklin | Hawthorn | 10% | Hawthorn vs Adelaide | Fantastic chase and tackle halting an Adelaide attack |
| 20 | Nominations | Richard Tambling | Richmond | 32% | Richmond vs Collingwood | Wonderful chase and smother to win possession |
| 20 | Nominations | Stephen Milne | St Kilda | 58% | Essendon vs St Kilda | Great smother to create a turnover then goal |
| 21 | Nominations | Max Rooke | Geelong | 72% | Western Bulldogs vs Geelong | Multiple strong tackles resulting in a turnover |
| 21 | Nominations | Drew Petrie | North Melbourne | 15% | North Melbourne vs St Kilda | Launched himself in the air to spoil |
| 21 | Nominations | Jarred Moore | Sydney | 13% | Collingwood vs Sydney | Courageous knock-on resulting in a goal |
| 22 | Nominations | Tom Hawkins | Geelong | | Geelong vs Fremantle | Brilliant smother followed by chase and tackle |
| ** | Current Round - voting still open |
| | Round Winner |

## Finalists

* Luke Ball (St Kilda) – round 3
* Martin Mattner (Sydney) – round 6
* Brad Green (Melbourne) – round 12
* Nathan Eagleton (Western Bulldogs) – round 15
* Jacob Surjan (Port Adelaide) – round 16
* Winner: Tom Hawkins (Geelong) – round 22