Brisbane Lions Vice-Captain Tom Rockliff was tonight awarded the Merrett-Murray Medal as the Club’s best and fairest player for the second time in his career.
The accolade caps off what has been a stellar year for Rockliff, who averaged a competition-high 32.7 disposals per game this season.
It has been a successful week for Rockliff, who became the first Lions player in five years to come into All-Australian calculations after he was named in the 40-man squad on Tuesday.
Rockliff, who won the Merrett-Murray Medal in 2011 as a 21-year-old, finished the night with 138 votes, narrowly edging out ‘Mozzie Squad’ member, Dayne Zorko, who finished the night with 134 votes.
After consecutive Merrett-Murray Medal wins in 2012 and 2013, Joel Patfull had to settle for third place with a total of 121 votes.
Rockliff becomes the sixth player in Lions’ merged history to win multiple Merrett-Murray Medals, joining the esteemed company of Michael Voss, Simon Black, Jason Akermanis, Jonathan Brown and Joel Patfull.
But his night didn’t end there, with the midfielder taking out the Player’s Player Award, Members Player of the Year and the Shaun Hart Most Competitive Player Award.
After being overlooked a staggering 85 times before being drafted by Brisbane in the 2010 Rookie Draft, Rockliff has developed into one of the competition’s elite midfielders.
Rockliff finished the 2014 season with 18 games, 309 kicks, 96 marks, 280 handballs (seventh in the AFL in total disposals), 163 Tackles (second in the AFL) and averaged 17.2 kicks, 5.3 marks, 15.6 handballs a game.
NAB Rising Star winner, Lewy Taylor, topped off a winning week taking out the highly contested Rookie of the Year Award, whilst Michael Close was the recipient of the Most Professional Award.