Football is blessed to be able to honour and recognise its champions in the manner and distinction they deserve every September.
While only one side is crowned premier each year, the litany of awards recognising the game’s best are wide-ranging, with each honour touching on a different aspect of excellence.
These remain unusual times – in footy and across society generally – but there’s a certain comfort that, despite the challenges faced in the past two seasons, the game has found a way to press on and still recognise achievements, more recently combining several award nights to create a made-for-television event which has captivated fans, albeit at a distance.
But there is a certain uniqueness and prestige to the Norm Smith Medal that remains unmatched, even compared with football’s highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal.
While the Brownlow recognises the best player in the game – no matter their team’s overall success – the Norm Smith Medal is almost always won by a player on the winning team on Grand Final day, with some notable exceptions.
Only Maurice Rioli (1982), Gary Ablett snr (1989), Nathan Buckley (2002) and Chris Judd (2005) have won the award despite being part of the losing Grand Final team, elevating their stature despite their side’s overall performance on the day.
One man who knows more than a thing or two about excelling at the highest level is Geelong great Jimmy Bartel, one of only seven players to win both a Brownlow and Norm Smith Medal, together with Buckley, Judd, Greg Williams, James Hird, Simon Black and Dustin Martin.
While it’s almost impossible to distinguish which award is more prestigious, Bartel knows that winning the Norm Smith Medal after Geelong defeated Collingwood in the 2011 Grand Final will live on as one of the crowning achievements of his glittering career.
“If you pick one (award) over the other, it feels like you’re disrespecting the other one,” he said.
“I think the most pleasing part of both is I feel they both contributed to Geelong premierships.
“In 2007 (when he won the Brownlow), I was part of that ride that helped break the premiership drought and it felt like I helped us along the way to get into the position of winning one and, then of course with the Norm Smith, it’s good to know that you played well on the big day.”
Bartel’s performance in the 2011 decider will live long in the memory of Cats fans.
While he found the ball 26 times as well as kicking three goals on footy’s biggest stage, he admits he didn’t know in the moment of battle that he was set to be crowned a Norm Smith medallist by the end of the day.
“You don’t really know that you’re going to be the winner,” he said.
“In 2011, the game was still in the balance and Collingwood were such a good side so you’re just so narrowed in.
“I know a lot of football supporters and followers would be thinking ‘that’s so cliché’, but you do get so compartmentalised in that moment.
“It wasn’t until (then AFL media manager) Patrick Keane came up to me when I was hugging Tom Lonergan and told me that they were going to present me with the Norm Smith Medal and to get your head around it.
“Obviously at the time everyone was watching and I still couldn’t get my head around it and I’d forgotten about it two seconds later.
“It wasn’t until I heard my name called out by (former Essendon star) Michael Long up on stage – I used to love watching him play.
“At that moment Matthew Scarlett was patting me on the head … it’s such a whirlwind.”
The Norm Smith Medal remains one of those honours that only grows in stature as the years pass.
Bartel admits that he only fully comprehended the magnitude of the achievement a decade ago when reflecting with teammates in the weeks and months following the premiership.
“I don’t think you really celebrate it (in the moment),” he said.
“Also the guys who were in the rooms and in the day or two after, they all thought it was pretty cool (that I had won it).
“Then of course you have guys like (2007 winner) Steve Johnson and (2009 winner) Paul Chapman who immediately think of the memorabilia opportunities and they’re trying to think of how we can put the three medals (premiership, Brownlow and Norm Smith) together and sign some stuff.
“The whole experience was pretty awesome. Since I’ve retired, I think I’ve reflected on it more fondly.
“I think it’s one of those things where your single focus when you’re playing football is to win a premiership with your teammates and (having) that pure adrenalin rush when you win one.
“Five or 10 minutes later, they present you with a Norm Smith. Because you’re still caught up in hugging teammates and coaches and telling everyone you love them, it doesn’t sink in what it means.
“Now that I’ve been fortunate enough to go along to a number of Grand Finals and then you see the Norm Smith Medal being presented and what it means and that connection to the game, it’s just really special.
“In the most simplistic way, you can probably say (when you win it) that you’ve made a big contribution to your team winning a premiership and that’s what it’s all about.” There’s a certain mystique that exists around the medal and the exclusive list of names who have won it since its inception in 1979.
While just four players have won it at least twice, Richmond’s premiership star Martin is the only one to win it three times.
Bartel believes that Martin – who has won three of the past four Norm Smith Medals – is a “walk-up legend” of the game.
“He is extraordinary and all of his (Grand Finals) are out of this world,” Bartel said.
“For me, watching all three of them and being able to cover them for radio was unreal.
“The last one against Geelong (in 2020) was one of the most dominant individual performances to win a Grand Final.
“The goal he kicked right before half-time, you could just see the entire Richmond side lift because (before that) Geelong were all over the Tigers. “He’ll be a walk-up Legend (in the Hall of Fame).”
There’s always a great fascination about what happens to the medals after they are presented. In Bartel’s case, where he keeps both the Norm Smith and Brownlow Medal is truly a family affair as he looks to inspire those closest to him.
“At the moment, my memorabilia are shared around my nephews and my boys as well,” he said.
“The older ones are now really getting into the love of football and sport, so I’ve got the Norm Smith Medal and the premiership medallion at my sister’s place.”
One of the great traditions of the Norm Smith Medal is to honour previous winners and ask them to present the medal.
Long – who won the medal in 1993 – presented Bartel with the award a decade ago, an honour Bartel himself would treasure.
“If I was lucky enough to get the honour to present the Norm Smith Medal, then it would be unbelievable,” he said.
“Being involved in any part of Grand Final day is special, but to be out there back in the centre of the MCG handing out the medal for the best player on the ground would be a pretty cool experience.”