The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

award given by the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

to the player adjudged

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

for Collingwood during the year. The Copeland Shield, as it was formerly known, was donated by Ern Copeland, the secretary who came to the club in 1895 and led the club through the 1890s depression, saving it from financial ruin. He remained an employee of Collingwood for 29 years, finally retiring in 1924. The trophy was unveiled in 1932, with the best and fairest award winners from the previous five years engraved on the trophy. Along with the Copeland Trophy, the R.T. Rush Trophy is awarded to the second best and fairest player, the J.J. Joyce Trophy is awarded to the third placed player, the Jock McHale Trophy to the fourth placed player, and the Jack Regan Trophy to the fifth placed player. The voting system as of the

2017 AFL season The 2017 AFL season was the 121st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

, consists of five coaches awarding 22 votes per match, with no specific distribution required. If two players are tied at the end of the season, the player with the highest average votes-per-game is awarded the winner. If they are still tied, the player with the highest number of 'high value' votes is awarded the winner.

Recipients

Multiple winners

Notes

* The Copeland Trophy was not awarded in the

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

, and

1944 VFL season The 1944 VFL season was the 48th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. All twelve of the league's clubs competed, with returning after two years in recess du ...

s because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

References

;General * ;Specific {{bestandfairest Australian Football League awards Collingwood Football Club Awards established in 1932 Australian rules football-related lists