Michael Tuck Medal

The Michael Tuck Medal was awarded to the best-and-fairest player in the AFL Pre-season Cup Final. The award was presented annually between 1992 and 2013; since 2014, the award has not been presented due to the preseason being structured without a final. It is named after Michael Tuck, who played 426 senior matches for Hawthorn between 1972 and 1991 [1] and was the VFL/AFL games record holder until being surpassed by Brent Harvey in Round 19, 2016.

Recipients

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Year Player Team
1992 Paul Hudson Hawthorn
1993 Gavin Wanganeen Essendon
1994 Gary O'Donnell Essendon
1995 Mick Martyn North Melbourne
1996 Nicky Winmar St Kilda
1997 Craig Bradley Carlton
1998 Wayne Carey North Melbourne
1999 Paul Salmon Hawthorn
2000 Mark Mercuri Essendon
2001 Adam Kingsley Port Adelaide
2002 Nick Stevens Port Adelaide
2003 Andrew McLeod Adelaide
2004 Robert Harvey St Kilda
2005 Brendan Fevola Carlton
2006 Simon Goodwin Adelaide
2007 Nick Stevens Carlton
2008 Jason Gram St Kilda
2009 Joel Selwood Geelong
2010 Barry Hall Western Bulldogs
2011 Heath Shaw Collingwood
2012 Bernie Vince Adelaide
2013 Daniel Rich Brisbane Lions

Italics - denotes winner from losing team of that Grand Final.

Trivia

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  • Adelaide's Simon Goodwin is the only player to win the medal despite playing in the losing side when they were defeated by Geelong in 2006.
  • Nick Stevens is the only player to win two Michael Tuck medals. He won the award in 2002 with Port Adelaide, and in 2007 with Carlton.
  • Tuck committed an amusing faux pas in 2005, when he himself accidentally referred to the medal as the Norm Smith Medal while presenting it (the Norm Smith Medal is awarded to the best-and-fairest player in the premiership season grand final). He has alluded to this mistake prior to awarding the medal in future seasons by emphasising his name; in 2009 his words were "my name is Michael Tuck, and the winner of the Michael Tuck Medal is Joel Selwood."

References

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  1. ^ Lovett, Michael, ed. (2010). AFL Record Season Guide 2010. p. 901. ISBN 978-0-9806274-5-9.