Last Saturday night’s Merrett-Murray Medal vote count proved a thrilling one, with Tom Rockliff storming home to become the youngest player since the 1996 merger to receive the honour.

Rockliff finished with 37.5 votes, two votes clear of three-time winner Simon Black and 2.5 votes clear of fellow young gun Jack Redden who placed third.

It proved the same total that earned Michael Rischitelli the 2010 Club Champion award, making it the equal lowest winning total since the voting system was introduced.

At the beginning of the evening, Senior Coach Michael Voss explained the Club’s strict voting procedure.

“Every Monday we spend between 30 minutes to an hour of our Match Committee review meeting to rate the players on how they performed,” Voss said.

“We look at how they performed their individual role, what their contribution was towards their area (i.e. midfield, forward or defence), what their contribution was to the entire team, as well as their overall impact on the game.”

“We start with who we deem as being the best player and work back down from there on where we think other players sit based on that ranking.”

Players are given a score between 0-5 votes, with half votes used when players are seen to fit distinctly in between two categories.

The voting is also measured against each player’s ability, which means that high quality players can be marked more critically for quiet games.

Zero votes are given for players who have little to no impact on a match and aren’t seen to have successfully done their role. The remaining categories are as follows:

1 - Fair. “This can often be awarded to players who receive a high amount of possessions, but may not have necessarily done his role to the best of his ability.”

2 - Good. “Is given to players who have been able to influence their area significantly.”

3 - Very Good. “Being able to influence the team plan over FOUR quarter and have an impact on the game itself.”

4 - Excellent. “Someone who has had a significant involvement in the game.”

5 - Outstanding. “This is given out very rarely. It’s pretty much reserved for players who make the game their own and almost win the game off their own boot.”

The highest individual score handed out for the night was ‘4’, which was issued four times throughout the evening.

Mitch Clark and Daniel Merrett each earned four votes for their standout efforts in the Lions’ win against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in Round 10, while Matthew Leuenberger was given four votes for his performance in QClash 2 at the Gabba in Round 21. Rockliff was the only other player to equal that feat following his sensational individual performance in a losing side back in Round 23 against the fourth-placed West Coast Eagles, when he collected 30 disposals, laid 13 tackles and kicked two goals.

Heading into the final four rounds, only 1.5 votes separated Black from Redden and Pearce Hanley who shared equal second place.

Rockliff sat 5th - 3.5 votes behind Black - before scoring 11.5 votes in the final four matches to shoot past both Black and Redden. In fact, Rockliff totalled 14.5 votes from his last five games (at an average of 2.9 votes per game) compared to Black’s seven votes and Redden’s eight.

Meanwhile, ruckman Matthew Leuenberger’s final month of the season proved best at the Club, with the 23 year-old polling 12 votes from his final four games to soar from 9th to 6th on the overall leaderboard.

Rockliff’s outstanding final five weeks was coupled with supreme consistency throughout the season.

With the exception of his two missed matches with a calf injury (Rounds 11 and 12), the 21 year-old only failed to poll in two matches - against the SUNS in Round 7 and the Western Bulldogs in Round 2.

Meanwhile, full-back Daniel Merrett was not surprisingly the early bolter, leading by 2.5 votes from Jed Adcock after 10 Rounds before suffering a fractured vertebrae in Round 11.

Merrett was the only Lions player to score 3.5 votes or more three times, with Rockliff, Black and Clark the only other players to achieve this feat twice.

Click here to view and print the full final standings complete with every vote for every player from every Round during the season.