Leigh Matthews Trophy

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The Leigh Matthews Trophy is an annual award given by the AFL Players Association to the Most Valuable Player in the Australian Football League. It is named in honour of Leigh Matthews, who won the first MVP award in 1982, when the league was still known as the Victorian Football League. The trophy was first awarded in 2002, and all previous VFLPA/AFLPA MVPs were retrospectively given the Matthews Trophy in 2005. It is given at a special ceremony, televised by Fox Footy Channel in Australia, on the eve of the AFL Grand Final.

The voting procedure for the award is:

At the end of the regular season, each team votes for two players to be considered for election.
Two weeks into the finals, the AFLPA sends a final ballot to all players throughout the league. Players cannot vote for their own teammates; in fact, the ballots sent to each team are redacted to remove that team's nominees. Each player has one vote for the award. The leading vote-getter receives the trophy.

The award is roughly analogous to the Brownlow Medal, the traditional "best and fairest" award in the league. However, "key-position" players have been more likely to win this award than the Brownlow Medal. For example, Wayne Carey, generally regarded as one of the league's all-time greats, never came close to winning the Brownlow, but won this honour twice. Also, a league disciplinary suspension does not automatically exclude a player from contention for the Matthews Trophy. In 1996, Corey McKernan finished tied in the Brownlow voting with that season's winners James Hird and Michael Voss, but was disqualified from the Brownlow because of a disciplinary suspension. However, McKernan won the AFLPA MVP award that season.

List of winners

Year	Player	Team
1982	Leigh Matthews	Hawthorn
1983	Terry Daniher	Essendon
1984	Russell Greene	Hawthorn
1985	Greg Williams	Geelong
1986	Paul Roos	Fitzroy
1987	Tony Lockett	St Kilda
1988	Gerard Healy	Sydney Swans
1989	Tim Watson	Essendon
1990	Darren Millane	Collingwood
1991	Jim Stynes	Melbourne
1992	Jason Dunstall	Hawthorn
1993	Gary Ablett	Geelong
1994	Greg Williams	Carlton
1995	Wayne Carey	North Melbourne
1996	Corey McKernan	North Melbourne
1997	Robert Harvey	St Kilda
1998	Wayne Carey	North Melbourne
1999	Shane Crawford	Hawthorn
2000	Anthony Koutoufides	Carlton
2001	Andrew McLeod	Adelaide Crows
2002	Luke Darcy Michael Voss	Western Bulldogs Brisbane Lions
2003	Michael Voss	Brisbane Lions
2004	Nick Riewoldt	St Kilda
2005	Ben Cousins	West Coast Eagles

External links

[Official overview of AFLPA awards]

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