Lachie Neale is a rare, rare specimen in AFL history. He’s one of only 14 players in AFL history to win six or more club championship awards.

Having claimed his fourth Merrett/Murray Medal as the Lions celebrated their 2024 premiership on Thursday night to go with two equivalent awards at Fremantle, he sits behind only seven players on the all-time count.

This is an Honour Roll headed by Fitzroy legend Kevin Murray and South Melbourne great Bob Skilton, who each won their club best & fairest nine times. Hawthorn supergreat turned Brisbane triple premiership coach Leigh Matthews is next with eight, followed by four players each with seven – Essendon’s Dick Reynolds and Bill Hutchinson, Western Bulldogs’ Scott West, and Gary Dempsey, who won five B&F’s at the Dogs and one at North Melbourne.

Equal with Neale on six are his former Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich, Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley, St.Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt, five-time Fitzroy B&F winner John Murphy, who added a sixth at South Melbourne, Gary Ablett Jnr, who won four at the Gold Coast and two at Geelong, and the Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli, who claimed his sixth this year.

Brisbane’s Michael Voss and Dayne Zorko and Fitzroy’s Allan Ruthven, Garry Wilson and Paul Roos are among 19 players with five club champion wins. Others are Scott Pendlebury and Len Thompson (Collingwood), James Hird and Zach Merrett (Essendon), Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn), Brent Harvey (North), Kevin Bartlett and Jack Dyer (Richmond), Herbie Matthews and Peter Bedford (South Melbourne), Chris Judd (West Coast/Carlton), Ted Whitten, Norm Dare and John Schulz (Western Bulldogs).

Carlton’s Patrick Cripps is favored to join this list with his fifth B&F on Sunday (6 October).

Neale is one of only three players with at least five B&F wins to have claimed two or more at each of two clubs. The others are Chris Judd, a two-time winner at West Coast before three wins at Carlton, and Gary Ablett Jnr, who won two at Geelong before four at the Gold Coast.

In the tightest of tight counts, Neale won the 2024 Merrett/Murray Medal by one vote from Zorko, with Josh Dunkley one vote further back in third place.

The top 10 vote-getters were Neale (73), Zorko (72), Dunkley (71), Hugh McCluggage (64), Darcy Wilmot (61), Ryan Lester (60), Harris Andrews, Jarrod Berry and Joe Daniher (56), and Oscar McInerney and Cam Rayner (54).

Neale now sits fourth on the Brisbane club championship honor roll with four, behind Zorko and Michael Voss, each with five. Simon Black and Jonathan Brown have three apiece, and John Gastev, Michael McLean, Joel Patfull and Tom Rockliff two.

Zorko’s close 2^nd-place finish iced an extraordinary comeback year after the former captain had finished outside the top 10 in 2022-23. This was after 10 years in a row from 2012-21 when he finished 7^th-4^th-2^nd-1^st-1^st-1^st-1^st-2^nd-5^th-1^st.

He now has 11 top 10 finishes, equal with Voss, and trails only Simon Black, who amassed 13. Harris Andrews, Marcus Ashcroft and Nigel Lappin have had 10 top 10.

Dunkley has gone 4^th-3^rd in two years with the Lions after he had finished 2^nd at the Bulldogs in 2019 and won the club championship in 2022.

McCluggage’s 4^th was his sixth top four finish in a row after he was 7^th in 2018. He’s gone 3^rd-3^rd-2^nd-2^nd-3^rd-4^th in the six seasons in which the Lions have played finals.

Wilmot’s 5^th placing in his third season at 20 puts him in a group of seven players who have done this or better. Justin Sherman was 2^nd in his 2^nd season at 19 in 2006, Matthew Clarke was 2^nd in his 2^nd season at 20 in 1994, Jed Adcock was 3^rd in his 2^nd season at 19 in 2005, Marcus Ashcroft was 3^rd in his 3^rd season at 19 in 1991, Jack Redden was 5^th in his 2^nd season at 20 in 2010, and Nigel Lappin was 5^th in his 3^rd season at 20 in 1996, and

Lester’s 6^th-place finish at 32 in his 14^th season was a career-best result and his first top 10 finish since he was 9^th in 2016-17.

Andrews’ 10^th placing is his 10^th season was his 10^th consecutive top 10 finish. After finishing 8^th in his first season he’s gone  10^th-8^th-5^th-10^th-6^th-6^th-4^th-1^st-8^th. And Oscar McInerney, equal 10^th in the premiership B&F, now has five top 10 finishes in a row – 4^th-7^th-9^th-9^th-10^th.