Every year the Norm Smith medal is awarded to the best-performed player at the AFL Grand Final.
All the wash-up from the 2017 AFL Grand Final
» Match Report: Tigers are premiers
» BUCKLAND: Richmond go from rabble to flag
» Six talking points from the match
» Richmond Tigers player ratings
» Adelaide Crows player ratings
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In 2017, the winner was Dustin Martin of the Richmond Tigers, who added it to his collection with a Brownlow and premiership medal in 2017.
Martin had 28 disposals and two goals for the Tigers.
He won the award with 13 out of a possible fifteen votes, with four of five judges giving him three votes as best on ground.
Bachar Houli finished as the runner-up with 10 votes and was the only other player to get votes from all five judges.
Alex Rance, Shane Edwards, Dion Prestia and Jack Graham were the other players to receive votes.
No Adelaide players received any votes from any of the judges.
Total votes
13 – Dustin Martin, Richmond Tigers – 33331.
10 – Bachar Houli, Richmond Tigers – 32221.
2 – Alex Rance, Richmond Tigers – 2.
2 – Shane Edwards, Richmond Tigers – 2.
2 – Dion Prestia, Richmond Tigers – 11.
1 – Jack Graham, Richmond Tigers – 1.
Votes by judge
Chris Judd (MMM, Chairman) – Dustin Martin, Bachar Houli, Jack Graham.
Terry Wallace (AFL Nation) – Bachar Houli, Shaun Edwards, Dustin Martin.
Daisy Pearce (Channel 7) – Dustin Martin, Bachar Houli, Dion Prestia.
Mark Maclure (ABC Radio) – Dustin Martin, Alex Rance, Bachar Houli.
Jake Niall (Fox Sports) – Dustin Martin, Bachar Houli, Dustin Prestia.
Rory Sloane kicked two in the first term and was a deft hand in the middle of the ground, but like the rest of the Adelaide side struggled as the match went on.
Matt Crouch had 35 touches for the Crows, including 19 kicks, but didn’t have as much impact as those numbers would suggest.
Toby Nankerivs was beaten in the ruck by Sam Jacobs but had a great impact around the ground with 18 disposals.
Jack Riewoldt was in the bad books early kicking three behinds in the first term but was dynamic throughout and kicked two goals.
Dion Prestia and Kane Lambert were great in the midfield and pushing forward for the Tigers.
Perhaps the biggest surprise packet of the day though was fifth-gamer Jack Graham who booted three goals, the most of any player on ground.
republican
Guest
.......concur, while there were others that performed far better than JM did on the day, Lambert & Prestia being two.........
republican
Guest
What a complete and utter farce. Dusty is good to be sure but really, he hardly impacted on the game until the final qtr, while Richmond had a number of superior performers on the day that were more than eligible for the Norm Smith, i.e. Houli. What was the agenda here exactly, because JM was definitely NOT entitled to walk away with this accolade.........
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Gee Guttsy, Do you think I didn't realize that about Daisy and Maclure? I don't have a problem with Maclur's eligibility. But Daisy and Jake Niall don't have the pedigree. If you think women's football or being a journalist qualifies you to judge the Norm Smith medal then you obviously have a very low bar. My local U16s football (which I've coached) is a better standard than national womens and I wouldn't be advocating they should be a judge of the Norm Smith medal either - unless we want to completely discredit the award. That's no slight against womens footy - it's great to see it being promoted and expanded, but doesn't mean we should lose all perspective when appointing people to be on the Norm Smith voting panel.
guttsy
Guest
I think you need to do a bit of research. Daisy Pearce is actually a highly accomplished womens footballer so I think she satisfies the criteria you have set. For myself Mark Maclure (3 times Premiership player for Carlton) was the one who got closest to getting it right and surprisingly was the only one who included Alex Rance in their voting which was very surprising to me as I thought Rance was clearly the dominate player on the ground when the game was up for grabs in the first half. I cannot understand how he didn't feature in everybodies votes. Having said this Dustin Martin is a worthy winner of the award.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
I agree Dusty was a deserved winner but surely the Norm Smith medal should be voted on by people with exceptional football royalty? Former coaches, 300 gamers, Multiple premiership players and former Norm Smith medalists. Clearly Judd and Wallace fit this criteria. But why on earth are women's player Daisy Pierce and journalist Jake Niall 2 out of the 5 judges?!! This is political correctness gone mad. Let's make sure we get a gay, indigenous, disabled celebrity to vote next year so that we can cover all the minority bases. C'mon AFL, give the medal the respect and integrity it deserves. Make sure the panel only includes people with suitable football pedigree and qualifications.
Rabbitohs
Guest
Agree - stats dont tell the story. Houli killed crows when they were in it. Martin was well held until game over
Brayden Rise
Roar Pro
As a sad Crows fan Dusty was fantastic but the guy who hurt us the most when the game was still on was Houli. Houli should have won it.
guttsy
Guest
I have made my point who I think should have won the Norm Smith and why in other roar articles. I don't want to repeat them here. Having made those points I can happily say Dustin Martin was a worthy winner of the Norm Smith medal. The AFL needs to look closely at how they fairly assess the performance of big back men in their key awards. Because at the moment they aren't getting the accolades that their performance and their impact on the game deserves.