# Morrish Medal

The Morrish Medal is an award presented to the best and fairest player in the premier Victorian underage Australian rules football competition during the home-and-away season. Boasting an uninterrupted lineage from 1947 onwards, the medal is currently awarded to the highest vote-getter in the Talent League Boys competition.

## History

The Morrish Medal was first inaugurated in 1947, the year after the formation of the Victorian Football League's thirds competition. Named in honour of reserve grade treasurer Tom Morrish, who had held the position since 1922, the medal was to be awarded to the best-performing player across the season as adjudged by the field umpires. This continued throughout the history of the League's thirds, which was renamed to the under-19s in 1960. When the under-19s competition was wound up at the conclusion of the 1991 Australian Football League season, to be replaced by the new Victorian State Football League under-18s competition, the decision was made to continue awarding the Morrish Medal in that new competition.

## Voting format

In the style of the Brownlow Medal and Gardiner Medal medals already awarded in the seniors and seconds competitions respectively, the presiding field umpire would cast a 3–2–1 vote at the conclusion of each match. The player with the most votes tallied following the end of the home-and-away season would then be presented with the medal. The initial voting method continues to this day, albeit with multiple field umpires now conferring to present a single set of votes for each match.
Until 1981, a count back rule identical to that of the Brownlow was used to split winners based on the amount of three-vote games they were awarded, followed by two-vote games, etc. until a solitary winner could be found. In 1992, the League recognised three players who initially lost by count back – Jim McGowan (1961), Phillip Friedman (1974) and Jack Dinatale (1976) – and awarded them retrospective medals.

## Winners by season

| Year | Player | Club | Votes |
| 1947 | Alan Dale | Essendon | [?] |
| 1948 | Ray Harvey | Melbourne | 22 |
| 1949 | Arthur Harbrow | St Kilda | [?] |
| 1950 | Noel Alford | North Melbourne | 23 |
| 1951 | Frank Williams | Hawthorn | 15 |
| 1952 | Peter McPhee | Footscray | 17 |
| 1953 | Dick Pratt | Carlton | 23 |
| 1954 | Alf Clarke | Carlton | 20 |
| 1955 | Dick Job | Carlton | 18 |
| 1956 | Garry Rasmussen | Hawthorn | 17 |
| 1957 | Peter O'Reilly | South Melbourne | 30 |
| 1958 | Norman Bowler | North Melbourne | 17 |
| 1959 | Don Glassenbury | Fitzroy | 16 |
| 1960 | Gerard Ryan | Footscray | [?] |
| 1961 | Terry Johnston | Melbourne | 15 |
| 1961 | Jim McGowan | South Melbourne | 15 |
| 1962 | Kevin Egan | Essendon | [?] |
| 1963 | John Schram | Geelong | [?] |
| 1964 | Peter Gowans | North Melbourne | 18 |
| 1965 | Russell Petherbridge | St Kilda | [?] |
| 1966 | Bruce Wright | Fitzroy | 16 |
| 1967 | Maurie Gale | Carlton | 17 |
| 1968 | Paul Callery | Melbourne | 25 |
| 1969 | Bill Gehling | Richmond | 17 |
| 1970 | Ken Marks | Fitzroy | 25 |
| 1971 | Tim O'Malley | Carlton | 21 |
| 1972 | Vin Catoggio | Carlton | 23 |
| 1972 | Ian Kilmartin | North Melbourne | 23 |
| 1973 | Russell Bruerton | South Melbourne | 20 |
| 1974 | Russell Bruerton | South Melbourne | 22 |
| 1974 | Jack Dinatale | Footscray | 22 |
| 1974 | Phillip Friedman | Melbourne | 22 |
| 1975 | Brian Jones | South Melbourne | [?] |
| 1976 | Jack Dinatale | Footscray | 20 |
| 1976 | Craig Jamieson | Richmond | 20 |
| 1977 | Darren Williams | Essendon | 20 |
| 1978 | Andrew McPhie | Fitzroy | 19 |
| 1978 | Stephen Simpson | North Melbourne | 19 |
| 1979 | Peter Banks | Collingwood | 30 |
| 1980 | Peter Lane | Essendon | [?] |
| 1981 | Adrian Battiston | Melbourne | 37 |
| 1982 | Les Bamblett | Melbourne | 17 |
| 1983 | Greg Healy | Melbourne | 17 |
| 1984 | Tony Liberatore | North Melbourne | 22 |
| 1985 | Frank Zoccali | Essendon | 25 |
| 1986 | David Ross | North Melbourne | 21 |
| 1987 | Wayne Schwass | North Melbourne | 17 |
| 1988 | Tim McGrath | North Melbourne | 21 |
| 1989 | Brad Davies | Essendon | 18 |
| 1990 | Brendan Roberson | Carlton | 14 |
| 1990 | Clinton Watson | North Melbourne | 14 |
| 1991 | Gary Stevens | Sydney | [?] |
| 1992 | Brad Smith | Northern Knights | 11 |
| 1993 | Dean Watson | Southern Stingrays | 25 |
| 1994 | Gary Moorcroft | Northern Knights | 17 |
| 1995 | Paul Hood | Geelong Falcons | 26 |
| 1996 | Nathan Brown | Bendigo Pioneers | 21 |
| 1997 | Derek Murray | Murray Bushrangers | 20 |
| 1998 | Lenny Hayes | NSW/ACT Rams | 21 |
| 1999 | Matthew Stolarczyk | Gippsland Power | 21 |
| 2000 | David Rodan | Calder Cannons | 25 |
| 2001 | David Rodan | Calder Cannons | 29 |
| 2002 | Luke Shackleton | Tassie Mariners | 22 |
| 2003 | Mungara Brown | Northern Knights | 25 |
| 2004 | Matthew Bate | Eastern Ranges | 21 |
| 2005 | Fortunato Caruso | Calder Cannons | 22 |
| 2006 | Fortunato Caruso | Calder Cannons | 22 |
| 2007 | Matthew Kreuzer | Northern Knights | 19 |
| 2008 | Jarryd Blair | Gippsland Power | 18 |
| 2008 | Farran Priest | Murray Bushrangers | 18 |
| 2009 | Anton Woods | Northern Knights | 24 |
| 2010 | Dyson Heppell | Gippsland Power | 21 |
| 2010 | Jackson Sketcher | Sandringham Dragons | 21 |
| 2011 | Alex Benbow | Dandenong Stingrays | 22 |
| 2012 | Nick Graham | Gippsland Power | 17 |
| 2013 | George Cameron | Geelong Falcons | 17 |
| 2013 | Ben Cavarra | Eastern Ranges | 17 |
| 2013 | Jacob Chisari | Bendigo Pioneers | 17 |
| 2013 | Josh Scott | Gippsland Power | 17 |
| 2014 | Alex Carr | Gippsland Power | 17 |
| 2015 | Clayton Oliver | Murray Bushrangers | 15 |
| 2016 | Hugh McCluggage | North Ballarat Rebels | 16 |
| 2017 | Jack Higgins | Oakleigh Chargers | 22 |
| 2018 | Liam Stocker | Sandringham Dragons | 19 |
| 2019 | Lucas Rocci | Western Jets | 17 |
| 2020 | not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic | not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic | not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Flynn Lakey | Calder Cannons | 12 |
| 2021 | Josh Rentsch | Greater Western Victoria Rebels | 12 |
| 2022 | Taj Campbell-Farrell | Dandenong Stingrays | 18 |
| 2022 | Lachlan Cowan | Tasmania Devils | 18 |
| 2023 | Patrick Hughes | Geelong Falcons | 18 |
| 2023 | Colby McKercher | Tasmania Devils | 18 |
| 2024 | Xavier Lindsay | Gippsland Power | 21 |
* 1 2 3 Medal was awarded retrospectively, as a countback rule was applied until 1980.
* 1 2 Medal was adjudged a tie and shared between both players as they could not be split by the countback rule.
* ↑ Medal was initially adjudged a tie and shared between Bruerton and Dinatale as they could not be split by the countback rule.

## Ineligible players who polled more votes than winner

A player guilty of an offence deemed worthy of a suspension is ineligible to win the Morrish Medal.
| Player | Club | Year | Votes | Outcome |
| Daryl Vernon | Richmond | 1978 | 19 | Suspended; would have been joint winner with McPhie and Simpson, as the trio could not be separated by the countback rule. |
| Brad Chapman | Fitzroy | 1990 | 20 | Suspended; would have won outright, beating Robertson and Watson by six votes. |
| Domenic Berry | Hawthorn | 1990 | 15 | Polled second-highest number of votes and would have won had he not been suspended. |