* Georgie Prespakis was ineligible to win the award after being suspended by the AFL Tribunal during the home-and-away season.[4]
Voting procedure
The three field umpires (the umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and are read and tallied on the evening.