The Brisbane Lions Club Champion 2020 event will take place this Wednesday, the 21st of October. Be there as the Merrett-Murray Medal is presented and we celebrate the exceptional achievements of our club.
Alongside the Club's most prestigious award, a number of other awards will be presented, including the Nigel Lappin Trophy for Runner Up, the Alastair Lynch Trophy for third place, Rookie of the Year, Marcus Ashcroft Most Professional Player and Shaun Hart Trademark Player of the Year.
Be there with the players, coaches, members and supporters to celebrate and wait in anticipation as each vote is counted. Tickets also include a three-course meal, premium beverages and live entertainment.
Get your tickets
Lachie Neale is the red-hot favourite to claim back to back Merrett-Murray medals after producing one of the most dominant seasons of the modern era.
Brisbane’s Club Champion will be crowned at a gala function at The Brisbane Convention Centre on Wednesday night.
All Australian Harris Andrews, midfielders Jarryd Lyons and Hugh McCluggage and veteran Daniel Rich are all expected to be strong contenders.
But Neale is the one to beat.
However with votes valued on the roles players perform and no limit on how many can receive maximum votes we are unlikely to see a landslide victory such as Sunday’s Brownlow even with Neale the undeniable favourite.
The fascinating aspect of the vote count will be the insight fans receive into the contributions of individual players through the eyes of the coaching staff.
There was across the board improvement within the Club in 2020 and every position in the top ten could be hotly contested.
Neale blitzed the field on the way to his Brownlow medal – polling 31 votes from 17 games to finish comfortably clear of Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak (21 votes) in second and Demon Christian Petracca and St Kilda’s Jack Steele (20 votes each) in joint-third.
The 10-vote margin was the equal-biggest final lead in Brownlow Medal history since the 3-2-1 format was introduced, while his 1.82 votes-per-game was the most in history.
It completed the clean sweep for the 27-year-old who also collected the Leigh Matthews trophy as the AFL Players’ Association MVP and the AFL Coaches Association’s Champion Player of the Year.
He averaged 27.5 disposals, 12.5 contested possessions and 5.3 clearances per game, as well as kicking 11 goals, to help lead the Lions to their first finals victory in more than a decade.
Alongside the Club's most prestigious award, a number of other awards will be presented, including the Shaun Hart Trademark Player of the Year, Marcus Ashcroft Most Professional Player, Rookie of the Year and more.
Ryan Lester, Oscar McInerney, Harris Andrews and Matt Eagles all possess strong claims for the Trademark Player of the Year.
The Most Professional Player is always one of the most coveted awards and with the elite standards at the Club the driver behind consecutive finals appearances, there would be more than one worthy recipient.
Harris Andrews has had an iron grip on the title in recent years but will face stiff competition from the Brownlow medallist and veteran Stef Martin while ruckman Oscar McInerney is revered for leaving no stone unturned in his preparation
With six debutants for the season the Rookie of the Year will also be hotly contested.
Brandon Starcevich would be favourite having cemented himself in the side for the entire season while Deven Robertson, Tom Berry, Connor Ballenden, Jack Payne Tom Fullarton and Kiedean Coleman all broke through for their first AFL games with Coleman and Payne both featuring in the club’s finals campaign.
