How to run a fair Best & Fairest vote

Why the process matters as much as the winner

The Best & Fairest is often the most meaningful individual award at a community club. Players remember it for years, and so do the players who think they were overlooked. A clear process protects the winner, the runners up and the coaches who vote.

Fairness at local level rarely fails because someone is biased. It fails because votes are rushed, cards go missing, a coach misses three weeks and nobody notices, or the totals leak in August and change how people play.

Decide the panel before round 1

Write down who votes before the season starts and tell the playing group. A typical panel is the Head Coach plus two or three assistants or line coaches. More voters smooths out individual blind spots, but every voter has to commit to voting every week.

• Pick coaches who watch the whole game, not just one line from the bench.
• Agree what happens when a panel member misses a game: do they skip that round, or watch the vision and vote later?
• Avoid putting a parent of a listed player on the panel if you can. If you can't, say so openly.

Agree a scoring rule everyone uses

Inconsistent scoring creates more unfairness than anything else. Agree on one method and write it down. A common approach is for each panel coach to give each player between 0 and 5 votes per game, where most players get 0 to 2 and only genuine standouts get 4 or 5.

• Vote on impact over the whole game, not one highlight.
• Decide whether 'fairest' means anything practical at your club, for example a player reported for a striking offence being ineligible that week.
• Vote before you look at the stats. Use the stats afterwards only as a check on anything you missed.

Vote the same night

Memory fades quickly and blends with the next game. Ask the panel to vote within 24 hours. Short reminders to anyone who hasn't voted help more than a lecture at training.

Keep the count private

If players know the leaderboard mid season, it changes behaviour and puts pressure on coaches. Only one person should be able to see the running totals, usually the Head Coach or a club official who doesn't vote.

• Don't add up totals in a shared spreadsheet or a group chat.
• Don't announce leaders at the midpoint unless the whole panel agrees in advance.
• Keep the original votes until after presentation night in case anyone asks for a check.

Settle tie-breaks before you need them

Ties happen. Decide the rule before the season, not on the night. Common options are the most 5 vote games, the most games polled, or a shared award. Whatever you choose, apply it the same way for every place, not just first.

Presentation night

Prepare the results a few days early, check them against the original votes, and have a second person confirm the top places. If you read out round by round votes, export them in advance rather than reading from a phone at the lectern.