The Jack Dyer Medal is an Australian rules football award given each season to the player or players adjudged best and fairest for the Richmond Football Club.
The award is now named in honour of Jack Dyer, a champion ruckman who won the award five times from 1937 to 1946. He was one of the inaugural "Legends" inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
Other multiple winners have been Kevin Bartlett (five times); Wayne Campbell and dual Brownlow Medallist Roy Wright (four times each); Ron Branton, Neville Crowe, Geoff Raines, Brownlow Medallist Bill Morris, Trent Cotchin, and most recently Tim Taranto (three times each). Basil McCormack, Jack Titus, Leo Merrett, Des Rowe, Dave Cuzens, Royce Hart, Maurice Rioli, Dale Weightman, Matthew Knights, Tony Free, Joel Bowden, Brett Deledio, Dustin Martin, and most recently Jack Riewoldt have all won the award twice.
Bill Morris, Roy Wright, Ian Stewart, Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin all won the best and fairest in the same years that they won their Brownlow Medals at Richmond, while Stan Judkins, Brownlow Medallist in 1930, never won the club's award.
The voting system as of the 2023 AFL season, consists of all the team’s players on match day receiving a rating from 0-5 based on their overall performance. The match committee assesses each player’s offensive, defensive and contest impacts on the game. After those game phases have been analysed, the 0-5 rating is given as a joint match committee decision. Votes are not allocated for what the match committee deems a below-average performance.
Recipients ^Denotes current player+Player won Brownlow Medal in same season
Season Recipient(s)Ref. 1908 to 1926 1927 1928 (2) 1929 1930 to 1934 1935 1936 1937 (1) 1938 (2) 1939 (3) 1940 (4) 1941 (2) 1942 1943 1944 (2) 1945 1946 (5) 1947 1948 + (2) 1949 1950 (3) 1951 1952 + (2) 1953 1954 + (3) 1955 (2) 1956 1957 (4) 1958 1959 (2) 1960 1961 (2) 1962 (3) 1963 1964 (2) 1965 1966 (3) 1967 1968 (2) 1969 1970 1971 + 1972 (2) 1973 (3) 1974 (4) 1975 1976 1977 (5) 1978 1979 1980 (2) 1981 (3) 1982 1983 (2) 1984 1985 1986 1987 (2) 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 (2) 1993 (2) 1994 1995 1996 1997 (2) 1998 1999 (3) 2000 2001 2002 (4) 2003 2004 2005 (2) 2006 2007 2008 2009 (2) 2010 2011 2012 + (2) 2013 2014 (3) 2015 2016 2017 + (2) 2018 (2) 2019 2020 ^ 2021 2022 ^ 2023 ^ 2024 Daniel Rioli 2025 ^ (2) 2026 ^ (3)
Multiple winners ^Denotes current player
Player Medals Seasons 5 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1946 1967, 1968, 1973, 1974, 1977 4 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002 1951, 1952, 1954, 1957 3 1960, 1961, 1962 2011, 2012, 2014 1963, 1964, 1966 1945, 1948, 1950 1978, 1980, 1981 ^ 2023, 2025, 2026 2 2004, 2005 1958, 1959 2008, 2009 2016, 2017 1989, 1993 1969, 1972 1990, 1992 1927, 1928 1942, 1944 2010, 2018 1982, 1983 1951, 1955 1929, 1941 1986, 1987
Removed winners
Following a nineteen-year investigation undertaken by members of the Richmond Historical Committee, it was announced in November 2019 that their research into the history of the award had discovered that 18 of the 22 awards between 1911 and 1936 (none had been listed in 1912, 1915, and 1930–1931) were not actually presented at the time but were instead erroneously added retrospectively in 1988 and 1991.
This caused a degree of controversy, as this resulted in Jack Dyer's record tally of six medals being reduced to five (with his 1932 award being removed), equal with Kevin Bartlett. In addition, Ray Martin also had his back-to-back medals reduced to one (his 1934 award was removed), and a further twelve players—including those from the club's earliest years in the VFL/AFL, members of the club's 1920–1921 premiership teams, and teammates of Dyer—had all of their awards removed from the records.
Season Recipient 1911 1913 1914 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1932 1933 1934 1936
References General
Specific