The Norm Smith Medal may just be the most coveted individual award in AFL footy.
While the Brownlow and Coleman Medal often tell us who the best players were across a season, there’s nothing better than being the best individual performer on the biggest day.
Given you only need to put in one huge performance across four quarters to win the ‘Norm’, we’ve had some atypical winners across its history.
Looking at who the medal has been won by since 2000, we’ve broken down what kind of player is most likely to win the award by role and position.
Of the 24 winners (two were given out in 2010 with the Grand Final replay) since 2000, the majority have been claimed by midfielders.
Breaking them down to another level, we’ve broken those midfield winners into categories - inside bulls, dynamic and powerful, classy ball users and wingmen. Once they’re combined, mids have won 17 of the 24 Norms since 2000.
In the inside bull category, we have Shaun Hart in 2001, Lenny Hayes in 2010 and Ryan O’Keefe in 2012.
Hart won his against Essendon as he collected 23 disposals - with 12 of them being contested - plus four clearances. Hayes won his in the draw, with 32 disposals to go with a huge 12 tackles and five clearances. O’Keefe won his against the Hawks as he compiled 28 disposals (12 contested), as well as notching a huge 15 tackles on the inside.
In the dynamic and powerful category, we have Nathan Buckley in 2002, Chris Judd in 2005, Luke Hodge in 2014 (when he played as a midfielder with 35 disposals, four clearances and two goals), Dustin Martin in 2017, ’19 and ’20, Luke Shuey in 2018 and Christian Petracca in 2021. All of those players are strong bodies with burst and grunt, the exact type of star you want on the biggest stage.
In the classy ball user category, we have those that were simply too silky and skilful for their opponents. These are James Hird in 2000, Simon Black in 2003, Scott Pendlebury in 2010 (replay) and Jimmy Bartel in 2011. While these guys also have plenty of grunt and other tough attributes, their skills put them above the rest.
The last midfield category is wingmen, here we have Andrew Embley in 2006 and Isaac Smith in 2022.
Once we move away from the midfielders, we have a raft of flankers that have won the award at either end.
First up is half forwards which include Byron Pickett in 2004, Steve Johnson in 2007, Paul Chapman in 2009 and Cyril Rioli in 2015. Just sheer class and x-factor inside 50.
Grand Finals also seem to favour half-back flankers that can cut teams up with ball use, here we have Luke Hodge in 2008 - when he played that role - and Jason Johannisen in 2016 … Bachar Houli was also awfully close to winning from half-back in 2017.
The other Norm Smith winner since 2000 is from an outlier position when Brian Lake claimed the medal in 2013 as a key defender.
Positions that haven’t won the award since 2000 include rucks and key forwards. Are these roles due? Or do they just not stand out on Grand Final day?
Check out our breakdown of Norm Smith winners by position since 2000 below.
Midfielders - 17
Inside bulls - 3 - Hart (’01), Hayes (’10 draw), O’Keefe (’12)
Dynamic and powerful - 8 - Buckley (’02), Judd (’05), Hodge (’14), Martin (’17, ’19, ’20), Shuey (’18), Petracca (’21)
Classy ball users - 4 - Hird (’00), Black (’03), Pendlebury (’10 replay), Bartel (’11).
Wingmen - 2 - Embley (’06), Smith (’22)
Rucks - 0
Defenders - 3
Flankers - 2 - Hodge (’08), Johannisen (’16)
Key backs - 1 - Lake (’13)
Forwards - 4
Flankers - 4 - Pickett (’04), Johnson (’07), Chapman (’09), Rioli (’15)
Key forwards - 0