The Merrett-Murray Medal will be presented for the first time this Friday night under a new voting system devised by the Brisbane Lions’ Match Committee during the off-season.

It was announced earlier this year that the Club had planned to change the previous system, which involved giving players a rating out of five (including half votes) based on their overall performance.

“We’ve reviewed it and made some recommendations for changes and we’ve also spoken to the players about it and they were pretty happy with them,” Leppitsch told The Courier-Mail before the start of the season.

Lions.com.au can now reveal that players were allocated up to 12 votes per game in 2014, based on the team’s three core principles.

A detailed explanation of the new voting system is as follows:

The Senior Coach and Assistant Coaches allocate votes based on the players’ overall performance, influence on the game, team contribution/role, and compliance with our Team Values and the core areas of the Game Plan.

1. There is no restriction on the number of players who can receive votes.

2. Each line coach will grade and allocate a maximum of four votes to a player in each of the three areas of the Game Plan (offence, defence, contest) the maximum votes a player can receive in a match is 12.

3. The player’s Game Plan compliance is reviewed when allocating votes across each of the three areas. Coaches will consider a player’s ability to consistently demonstrate and apply our Team Values smart (offence), organised (defence), relentless (contest) over the course of the game.

4. Each line coach submits their votes on Monday morning for rigorous discussion and comparison with players from other lines.

5. Votes are finalised following this process.

In addition to the new voting system, the Club has introduced a ‘Brisbane Lions Reserves Best and Fairest’ award to the evening, while the formerly ‘Most Courageous Player’ award has been changed to ‘Most Competitive Player’.

The familiar ‘Most Professional Player’, ‘Members Player of the Year’, ‘Players Player of the Year’, and ‘Rookie of the Year’ remain unchanged.

The Brisbane Lions’ Club Champion dinner will be held this Friday night at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.