John Cahill Medal
Annual award in Australian football
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The John Cahill Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Port Adelaide Football Club throughout the Australian Football League (AFL) season. The Port Adelaide Football Club was established in 1870 and became a founding member of the South Australian Football Association (SAFA), later known as the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), in 1877. The club joined the AFL in 1997, and holds the unique status of being the only pre-existing non-Victorian club to have entered the AFL from another league.[1]
| Sport | Australian rules football |
|---|---|
| Competition | Australian Football League |
| Awarded for | Best and fairest performance across an AFL season |
| Location | Alberton Oval, Adelaide |
| Presented by | Port Adelaide Football Club |
| History | |
| First award | 1870 |
| Editions | 149 |
| First winner | John Wald |
| Most wins | Russell Ebert – 6 |
| Most recent | Jason Horne-Francis |
A best and fairest award has been awarded by the club since 1870, with the winners of the award appearing on the club's honour board.[2] Prior to the club's entry to the AFL, the award was known as the Port Adelaide Best and Fairest. After the club's entry to the AFL the award was renamed in honour of John Cahill, who coached or played in 14 premierships in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and was the club's inaugural AFL coach.[3]
The inaugural winner of the club's best and fairest award was John Wald in 1870, and the inaugural winner of the AFL best and fairest was Darren Mead in 1997.[2] Russell Ebert has the record for most best and fairest wins, winning on six occasions in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1981,[4] whilst Kane Cornes and Warren Tredrea hold the record for most John Cahill Medals won, both with four.[5] There have been four players to win the award three consecutive times; Thomas Smith (1877–1879), Harry Phillips (1891–1893), Robbie Gray (2014–2016) and Zak Butters (2023–2025).[6]
As of 2025, the voting system for the medal is handled by a panel of three coaching staff members. For each match, the senior coach, club's general manager, and respective line coach each award players between 0 and 5 votes based on their performances, with a maximum of 15 votes attainable.[3]. The club changed to this voting system in 2013,[7] with minor tweaks in 2019 and 2023 to adjust how many coaches award votes.[8][9] It has previously changed the best and fairest voting system in 2011 and 1997.[10][11]
Recipients
| Section Legend | |
|---|---|
| ^ | Denotes current player |
| + | Player won Magarey Medal in same season |
| # | Player won Brownlow Medal in same season |
| ✪ | Player won Ken Farmer Medal in same season |
| (2) | Repeat winner of award |
| John Cahill Medal - AFL Era | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Best and fairest | Votes | Runner Up | Votes | Ref |
| 1997 | Darren Mead | — | Matthew Primus | — | [14] |
| 1998 | Adam Kingsley | — | Donald Dickie | — | [14] |
| 1999 | Stephen Paxman | — | Warren Tredrea | — | [14] |
| 2000 | Brett Montgomery | — | Nick Stevens | — | [14] |
| 2001 | Warren Tredrea | 164 | Josh Carr | 159 | [11] |
| 2002 | Matthew Primus | 150 | Warren Tredrea (2) | 145 | [15] |
| 2003 | Gavin Wanganeen | 224 | Warren Tredrea (3) | 201 | [16] |
| 2004 | Warren Tredrea (2) | 236 | Kane Cornes | 220 | [17] |
| 2005 | Warren Tredrea (3) | 176 | Kane Cornes (2) | 173 | [18] |
| 2006 | Brendon Lade | 157 | Shaun Burgoyne | 148 | [19] |
| 2007 | Kane Cornes | 225 | Chad Cornes | 196 | [20] |
| 2008 | Kane Cornes (2) | 135 | Domenic Cassisi | 115 | [21] |
| 2009 | Warren Tredrea (4) | 103 | Kane Cornes (3) | 100 | [22] |
| 2010 | Kane Cornes (3) | 134 | Troy Chaplin | 125 | [23] |
| 2011 | Travis Boak | 13 | Tom Logan | 10 | [24] |
| Jackson Trengove | |||||
| 2012 | Kane Cornes (4) | 18 | Matthew Broadbent | 16 | [25] |
| Brad Ebert | |||||
| 2013 | Chad Wingard | 284 | Travis Boak | 266 | [26] |
| 2014 | Robbie Gray | 398 | Travis Boak (2) | 255 | [27] |
| 2015 | Robbie Gray (2) | 243 | Chad Wingard | 230 | [28] |
| 2016 | Robbie Gray (3) | 230 | Ollie Wines ^ | 206 | [29] |
| 2017 | Paddy Ryder | 241 | Charlie Dixon | 234 | [30] |
| 2018 | Justin Westhoff | 179 | Tom Jonas | 162 | [31] |
| Ollie Wines ^ (2) | |||||
| 2019 | Travis Boak (2) | 179 | Darcy Byrne-Jones ^ | 168 | [32] |
| 2020 | Darcy Byrne-Jones ^ | 159 | Travis Boak (3) | 136 | [33] |
| 2021 | Ollie Wines ^ # | 229 | Travis Boak (4) | 167 | [34] |
| 2022 | Connor Rozee ^ | 132 | Travis Boak (5) | 102 | [35] |
| 2023 | Zak Butters ^ | 190 | Connor Rozee ^ | 170 | [36] |
| 2024 | Zak Butters ^ (2) | 159 | Jason Horne-Francis ^ | 152 | [37] |
| 2025 | Zak Butters ^ (3) | 134 | Mitch Georgiades ^ | 118 | [38] |
| 2026 | Jason Horne-Francis ^ | 88 | Zak Butters ^ | 83 | [39] |
Multiple winners
| ^ | Denotes current player |
| Recipients | Medals | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| Russell Ebert | 6 | 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981 |
| John Cahill | 4 | 1966, 1968, 1970, 1973 |
| Kane Cornes | 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 | |
| Geof Motley | 1958, 1959, 1963, 1965 | |
| Harry Phillips | 1888, 1891, 1892, 1893 | |
| Jeff Potter | 1961, 1964, 1967, 1969 | |
| Bob Quinn | 1937, 1938, 1945, 1947 | |
| Warren Tredrea | 2001, 2004, 2005, 2009 | |
| Zak Butters^ | 3 | 2023, 2024, 2025 |
| Craig Bradley | 1982, 1984, 1985 | |
| Stephen Clifford | 1978, 1980, 1983 | |
| Les Dayman | 1923, 1924, 1928 | |
| Robbie Gray | 2014, 2015, 2016 | |
| Dick Russell | 1948, 1949, 1951 | |
| Thomas Smith | 1877, 1888, 1889 | |
| Charlie Adams | 2 | 1920, 1921 |
| Jack Ashley | 1914, 1919 | |
| Travis Boak | 2011, 2019 | |
| Lewis Corston | 1902, 1904 | |
| Jack Dermody | 1933, 1935 | |
| Sinclair Dickson | 1908, 1909 | |
| Harry Eaton | 1913, 1915 | |
| Charlie Fry | 1886, 1890 | |
| Neville Hayes | 1957, 1960 | |
| Scott Hodges | 1990, 1996 | |
| Albert Hollingworth | 1934, 1936 | |
| Ernest Mucklow | 1929, 1932 | |
| Harold Oliver | 1911, 1912 | |
| John Quinn Sr. | 1900, 1905 | |
| John Sidoli | 1880, 1881 | |
| Ted Strawns | 1901, 1906 | |
| Fos Williams | 1950, 1955 |
Notes
- The South Australian Football League was in recess from 1916 to 1918 due to World War I.[12]
- The Port Adelaide Football Club was temporarily merged with West Torrens during the 1942, 1943 and 1944 SANFL seasons because of World War II.[13]