Sandover Medal

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant and benefactor.

Voting system

After each match, the three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game) confer and award a 3, 2 and 1 point vote to the players they regard as the best, second best, and third best in the match respectively. Voting wasn't always done this way. From 1985-2018, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point votes were given, from 1930–1984, 3, 2 and 1 point votes were given, and prior to 1930 there was only one vote per game.

Just like similar "fairest and best" awards, for example the Brownlow and Magarey Medals, if a player is suspended for a reportable offence throughout the season then they become ineligible to win the award. This in effect is where the "fairest" element of the award comes in.

On the awards night, the votes over the home and away (regular) season are tallied and the eligible player with the highest number of votes is awarded the medal. In the past, ties were decided on a countback system, but after a three-way tie in the 1984 count, the WAFC decided to scrap countback system and award multiple medals to joint winners.

Prior to 1930 when only 1 vote per game was given, and hence a countback was not possible, the WAFL president would cast a deciding vote to decide the winner.

Players that had missed out on a medal due to the countback system were awarded them retrospectively in 1997.

Sandover Medal winners

Year	Player	Team	Votes
1921	Cyril Hoft **	Template:WAFL	–
	Tom Outridge	Template:WAFL	–
1922	Harold Boyd	Template:WAFL	6
1923	William "Digger" Thomas	Template:WAFL	–
1924	Jim Gosnell	Template:WAFL	–
1925	George Owens	Template:WAFL	4
1926	Johnny Leonard	Template:WAFL	6
1927	Jim Craig	Template:WAFL	7
1928	Jack Rocchi	Template:WAFL	5
1929	Johnny Leonard **	Template:WAFL	5
	Billy Thomas	Template:WAFL	5
1930	Ted Flemming	Template:WAFL	23 Template:Dagger
1931	Lin Richards	Template:WAFL	34
1932	Keith Hough	Template:WAFL	32
1933	Sammy Clarke	Template:WAFL	15
1934	Sammy Clarke	Template:WAFL	24
1935	Lou Daily	Template:WAFL	25
	George Krepp	Template:WAFL	25
1936	George Moloney	Template:WAFL	30
1937	Frank Jenkins	Template:WAFL	34
1938	Haydn Bunton, Sr.	Template:WAFL	27
1939	Haydn Bunton, Sr.	Template:WAFL	20
1940	Ed O'Keefe	Template:WAFL	29
1941	Haydn Bunton, Sr.	Template:WAFL	22
1942	Laurie Bowen	Template:WAFL	13
1943	Terry Moriarty	Template:WAFL	28
1944	Jim Davies	Template:WAFL	33
1945	George Bailey	Template:WAFL	24
1946	John Loughridge	Template:WAFL	26
1947	Clive Lewington	Template:WAFL	22
1948	Merv McIntosh	Template:WAFL	22
1949	Gordon Maffina	Template:WAFL	17
1950	Frank Allen **	Template:WAFL	23
	Jim Conway	Template:WAFL	23
1951	Fred Buttsworth	Template:WAFL	25
1952	Steve Marsh	Template:WAFL	20
1953	Merv McIntosh	Template:WAFL	14
1954	Merv McIntosh	Template:WAFL	22
1955	John Todd	Template:WAFL	25
1956	Graham Farmer	Template:WAFL	15
1957	Jack Clarke	Template:WAFL	19
	Graham Farmer **	Template:WAFL	19
1958	Ted Kilmurray	Template:WAFL	20
1959	Brian Foley	Template:WAFL	24
1960	Graham Farmer	Template:WAFL	26
1961	Neville Beard	Template:WAFL	22
	Ray Sorrell **	Template:WAFL	22
1962	Haydn Bunton, Jr.	Template:WAFL	22
1963	Ray Sorrell	Template:WAFL	20
1964	Barry Cable	Template:WAFL	23
1965	Bill Walker	Template:WAFL	24
1966	Bill Walker	Template:WAFL	20
1967	John Parkinson	Template:WAFL	19
	Bill Walker	Template:WAFL	19
1968	Barry Cable	Template:WAFL	25
1969	Mal Brown	Template:WAFL	21
1970	Pat Dalton	Template:WAFL	17
	Bill Walker **	Template:WAFL	17
1971	David Hollins	Template:WAFL	26
1972	Ian Miller	Template:WAFL	20
1973	Barry Cable	Template:WAFL	25
1974	Graham Melrose	Template:WAFL	20
1975	Alan Quartermaine	Template:WAFL	16
1976	Peter Spencer	Template:WAFL	21
1977	Brian Peake	Template:WAFL	24
1978	Phil Kelly	Template:WAFL	26
1979	Phil Kelly	Template:WAFL	24
1980	Stephen Michael	Template:WAFL	24
1981	Stephen Michael	Template:WAFL	37
1982	Phil Narkle	Template:WAFL	19
1983	Bryan Cousins **	Template:WAFL	16
	John Ironmonger	Template:WAFL	16
1984	Steve Malaxos	Template:WAFL	17
	Michael Mitchell	Template:WAFL	17
	Peter Spencer	Template:WAFL	17
1985	Murray Wrensted	Template:WAFL	46 Template:Dagger
1986	Mark Bairstow	Template:WAFL	39
1987	Mark Watson Template:Double-dagger	Template:WAFL	30
1988	David Bain	Template:WAFL	42
1989	Craig Edwards	Template:WAFL	39
1990	Mick Grasso	Template:WAFL	36
1991	Ian Dargie	Template:WAFL	34
1992	Robbie West	Template:WAFL	32
1993	Neil Mildenhall	Template:WAFL	38
1994	Ian Dargie	Template:WAFL	34
1995	Craig Treleven	Template:WAFL	43
1996	Jeremy Wasley	Template:WAFL	37
1997	Brady Anderson	Template:WAFL	30
1998	Adrian Bromage	Template:WAFL	32
1999	Gus Seebeck	Template:WAFL	33
2000	Richard Ambrose	Template:WAFL	34
2001	Ryan Turnbull	Template:WAFL	31
2002	Allistair Pickett	Template:WAFL	33
2003	Shane Beros	Template:WAFL	39
2004	Allistair Pickett	Template:WAFL	42
2005	Jaxon Crabb	Template:WAFL	39
	Toby McGrath	Template:WAFL	39
2006	Matt Priddis	Template:WAFL	58
2007	Anthony Jones	Template:WAFL	29
2008	Hayden Ballantyne	Template:WAFL	42
2009	Ross Young	Template:WAFL	45
2010	Andrew Krakouer	Template:WAFL	44
2011	Luke Blackwell	Template:WAFL	42
2012	Kane Mitchell	Template:WAFL	58
2013	Rory O'Brien	Template:WAFL	55
2014	Aaron Black	Template:WAFL	47
2015	Aidan Tropiano	Template:WAFL	45
2016	Jye Bolton	Template:WAFL	49
2017	Haiden Schloithe	Template:WAFL	52
2018	Jye Bolton	Template:WAFL	52
2019	Lachlan Delahunty	Template:WAFL	28 Template:Dagger
2020	Sam Fisher	Template:WAFL	13 §
2021	Bailey Rogers	Template:WAFL	30
2022	Blaine Boekhorst	Template:WAFL	25
2023	Hamish Brayshaw	Template:WAFL	26
2024	Callan England	Template:WAFL	19
	Nik Rokahr	Template:WAFL	19

• • Awarded retrospective Sandover Medal in 1997

Template:Dagger Voting system changed from a single vote per game to 3-2-1 voting in 1930, then to 5-4-3-2-1 voting in 1985, and back to 3-2-1 voting in 2019

Template:Double-dagger In 1987, Derek Kickett (Template:WAFL) polled 46 votes, but was ineligible to win due to suspension.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

§ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortened 10 game season was played

Multiple winners

The following players have won the Sandover Medal multiple times.

Medals	Player	Team	Seasons
4	Bill Walker	Swan Districts	1965, 1966, 1967, 1970
3	Haydn Bunton, Sr.	Subiaco	1938, 1939, 1941
	Merv McIntosh	Perth	1948, 1953, 1954
	Graham Farmer	East Perth	1956, 1957, 1960
	Barry Cable	Perth	1964, 1968, 1973
2	Johnny Leonard	Subiaco	1926, 1929
	Sammy Clarke	Claremont	1933, 1934
	Ray Sorrell	East Fremantle	1961, 1963
	Phil Kelly	East Perth	1978, 1979
	Stephen Michael	South Fremantle	1980, 1981
	Peter Spencer	East Perth	1976, 1984
	Ian Dargie	Subiaco	1991, 1994
	Allistair Pickett	Peel Thunder / Subiaco	2002, 2004
	Jye Bolton	Claremont	2016, 2018

References

• List of Sandover Medal winners from the Official WAFL website

External links

• Alfred Sandover Bio