The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buckley, playing for the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/ ...

. The recipient of the AFL Rising Star has been awarded the Ron Evans Medal since 2007, named in honour of the former

AFL Commission The AFL Commission is the official governing body of the Australian Football League Limited (AFL), its subsidiaries and controlled entities. Richard Goyder has been chairman since 4 April 2017, replacing Mike Fitzpatrick. It was formed in 198 ...

chairman following his death that year. The award was sponsored by Norwich Union Australia from its inception in 1993 until 2000. The AFL then secured a six-year sponsorship deal with

Ansett Australia Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into admini ...

in 2001, that included the Rising Star award; however, this agreement only lasted the one season following the collapse of Ansett in September 2001. National Australia Bank (NAB) has sponsored the award since 2002. An equivalent award has existed in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

league since its inception in 2017. The clubs with the most AFL Rising Star awards are , and , with three awards won by players representing these teams. 's eight nominations in the 2012 season is the most any club has achieved in a season. The most recent recipient of the award is 's

Nick Daicos Nick Daicos (born 3 January 2003) is a professional Australian rules football player who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Daicos is the son of Peter Daicos, who played for Collingwood in the VFL ...

, winning in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Eligibility and nominations

A player is nominated for the award each round during the AFL season by a panel of experts. The nominee is usually chosen based on their performance in that particular round; however, for nominations closer to the end of the year, the player's performance over the whole season is taken into consideration. To be eligible for nomination, the player must be under the age of 21 at 1 January that year, and have played ten or fewer AFL games as of the start of the season. A player can only be nominated once per season; if a player is suspended during the season, he may be nominated, but will not be eligible to win the award. At the completion of the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

, each member of the voting panel independently awards five votes, four votes, three votes, two votes and one vote to the nominated players they regard as the best to fifth-best during the season; the player with the highest total of votes wins the medal. As the number of voting members varies between seasons, the maximum number of votes a player can poll is not consistent. There have been only four winners who have accumulated the maximum votes in their season:

Jared Rivers Jared Rivers (born 18 October 1984) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Junior career As a child Rivers supported the Sydney Sw ...

(2004),

Daniel Rich Daniel Rich (born 7 June 1990) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited with the seventh overall selection in the 2008 national draft. Early life ...

(2009),

Dan Hannebery Daniel Hannebery (born 24 February 1991) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Sydney Swans from 2009 to 2018 and for the St Kilda Football Club fro ...

(2010) and

(2022). It is possible for a player to be nominated in multiple seasons, as long as he still satisfies the age and experience criteria in each year. Sixteen players have been nominated twice for a Rising Star award: *

Duncan Kellaway Duncan Kellaway (born 17 February 1973) is a former Australian rules football player who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Educated at Caulfield Grammar School, Kellaway debuted for Richmond in 1993 ...

(1993 and 1994) *

Craig Callaghan Craig William Callaghan (born 9 March 1976) is an Australian rules footballer who played for Fremantle and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played as a midfielder and forward pocket and began his football career at Swan Dis ...

(1995 and 1996) * Michael Braun (1997 and 1998) *

Luke Power Luke Power (born 8 January 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). A member of the Brisbane Lions's 2001, 2002, and 2003 premiers ...

(1998 and 1999) * Nathan Jones (2006 and 2007) * Mark LeCras (2006 and 2007) * Michael Hurley (2009 and 2010) * Jordan Gysberts (2010 and 2011) *

Sam Blease Sam Blease (born 19 February 1991) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Selected by Melbourne with pick 17 in the 20 ...

(2011 and 2012) *

Orazio Fantasia Orazio Maurice Fantasia ( or ; born 14 September 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Essendon Football Club with the 55 ...

(2015 and 2016) *

Alex Witherden Alex Witherden (born 10 September 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Witherden was a successful junior athlete in basketball and cricket but ...

(2017 and 2018) * Lachlan Sholl (2020 and 2021) * Mitch Georgiades (2020 and 2021) * Luke Jackson (2020 and 2021) *

Tom Green Michael Thomas Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian-American comedian, show host, actor, filmmaker, podcaster, and rapper. After pursuing stand-up comedy and music as a young adult, Green created and hosted ''The Tom Green Show'', which a ...

(2020 and 2021) *

Justin McInerney Justin McInerney (born 18 August 2000) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life McInerney was raised in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and participated ...

(2020 and 2021) * Jake Bowey (2021 and 2022)

Recipients

Club totals

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afl Rising Star Australian Football League awards Australian rules football awards Awards established in 1993 1993 establishments in Australia Rookie player awards

Eligibility and nominations

Recipients

Club totals

See also

Notes

References