The 2026 Jack Dyer Medal will be live streamed on the Richmond website and app on Tuesday night from 7pm AEST, brought to you by Hostplus.
Held at the Crown Palladium and hosted by three-time premiership great Jack Riewoldt, the event will crown the Tigers' best and fairest player of the 2026 season, in addition to a host of other prestigious awards.
Stay tuned to the Club's digital and social media channels for coverage throughout the night, including behind-the-scenes access of the players getting ready and walking the red carpet, videos of the main speeches and other highlights from the night.
WATCH THE 2026 JACK DYER MEDAL IN THE PLAYER BELOW FROM 7pm AEST ON TUESDAY NIGHT, BROUGHT TO YOU BY HOSTPLUS
2026 JACK DYER MEDAL KEY TIMINGS
(APPROXIMATE AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
7.00pm - Event begins
7.15pm - Address from President John O’Rourke
7.21pm - Address from Senior Coach Adem Yze
7.27pm - VWFL teams' best and fairest winners
7.34pm - VFL Steve Morris Award
7.40pm - Address from VFL Senior Coach Jack Madgen and announcement of Guinane Medal (VFL Best and Fairest)
7.52pm – Jack Dyer Medal Fans’ Choice Awards
7.55pm – Highlights and votes from AFL Rounds 1-7
8.00pm - Main meal break
8.40pm – Acknowledgment of 2026 debutants and Q&A with Sam Grlj, Sam Cumming and Patrick Retschko
8.54pm - Bill Cosgrove/Harry Jenkins Best First Year Player Award
8.58pm – Acknowledgment of 2026 milestones
9.00pm – Q&A with Toby Nankervis, Dion Prestia and Nathan Broad
9.16pm - Francis Bourke Award
9.22pm - Highlights and votes from AFL Rounds 8-16
9.28pm - Dessert break
10.00pm - Michael Roach Leading Goalkicker Award
10.10pm - Highlights from AFL Rounds 17-24
10.17pm - Announcement of top five vote-getters, with winners' speeches and toast to the 2026 Jack Dyer Medallist
10.30pm - Formalities conclude
THE AWARDS
Richmond recently announced medal name changes for the Jack Dyer Medal. Click here to read more.
Jack Dyer Medal – 1st
The inaugural Richmond Best and Fairest was awarded to Basil McCormack in 1927.
In 1964, the name of the award was changed in honour of Jack Dyer, the man acclaimed as the greatest Tiger of all.
Dyer is the equal most decorated player in Richmond's Best and Fairest history, winning five Club champion awards, including four in a row from 1937 to 1940.
Since 1964, there have been 15 multiple Jack Dyer Medallists, including Kevin Bartlett, who won five, Wayne Campbell, who won four, and Geoff Raines and Trent Cotchin, who won three.
Other dual Jack Dyer Medallists include Neville Crowe, Royce Hart, Maurice Rioli, Dale Weightman, Tony Free, Matthew Knights, Joel Bowden, Brett Deledio, Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt and Tim Taranto.
The Voting System
After each game, all of the team’s players on a match day receive a rating from 0 – 5 based on their overall performance. The match committee assesses each player’s offensive, defensive, and contest impacts on the game.
After those game phases have been analysed, the 0 – 5 rating is given, as a joint match committee decision. Votes are not allocated for what the match committee deems as below-average performances.
Kevin Bartlett Medal – 2nd
The Kevin Bartlett Medal is named after the Richmond Immortal, who won the Jack Dyer Medal five times over a stellar 403-game career.
Roy Wright Medal – 3rd
The Roy Wright Medal is named after the Richmond Immortal, who won four Jack Dyer Medals and two Brownlow Medals.
Trent Cotchin Medal – 4th
The Trent Cotchin Medal is named after Richmond’s premiership captain from 2017, 2019 and 2020. He also won three Jack Dyer Medals.
Jack Titus Medal – 5th
The Jack Titus Medal is named after the Tigers’ dual Best and Fairest, dual premiership player, coach, committeeman, and Hall of Fame Immortal.
Francis Bourke Award
The Francis Bourke Award is the player’s culture award, which recognises the player who embodies the team's trademarks and values. It acknowledges on and off-field contributions that make a positive impact on the culture of the Richmond Football Club.
Just like Bourke was an outstanding player on the field and a significant contributor off it, the award provides the players and staff with an opportunity to celebrate the efforts by players to make the Richmond Football Club a better place to be.
Nominations for the award are collected weekly, and those nominations are voted on monthly by the entire playing group on a 3-2-1 basis.
The Francis Bourke Award is one of the most coveted awards in the Football Club, because the cultural framework is developed by the players, for the players, and it is the players who hold one another accountable to make sure they bring that trademark to life.
Some of the efforts acknowledged for the Bourke are big game-changing efforts - a desperate lunge to spoil a ball from crossing the goal line or a record number of tackles. Other efforts fall in the category of “the little things”, like players helping staff clean the change rooms after a game, or looking after a teammate when they’re recovering from surgery.
Michael Roach Leading Goalkicker Award
This award is named after Richmond Hall of Fame member, Michael Roach.
Roach is a seven-time Richmond leading goalkicker and one of only two players in the Club’s history to kick 100 goals in a season. This award is presented to the player who has kicked the most goals for the Tigers during the season.
Guinane Medal, VFL Best & Fairest
The Guinane medal is named after the most prominent father-son combination in the Club’s history - Paddy Guinane and his father Dan.
Dan Guinane, a 179cm, 100kg defender, played 102 senior games with the Tigers from 1934-39 and 1942-43. He was a member of the Richmond side that lost the 1942 Grand Final to Essendon. In 1940-41, Guinane was playing coach of the Richmond reserves.
His son, Patrick, a 191cm, 95.5kg, key forward, played 146 games and kicked 216 goals for the Tigers in a career spanning 11 seasons, from 1958-68.
‘Paddy’ Guinane was vice-captain of Richmond’s drought-breaking 1967 premiership team and twice won the Club’s leading goalkicker award (1966 and 1968).
Paddy also coached the Tigers’ under-19s in 1978-79 and then the reserves in 1980-81, before serving as a Club Board member from 1985-87, and again in 1989.
Steve Morris Award
Introduced for the first time in 2026, the Steve Morris Award is the VFL version of the Francis Bourke Award.
The award is named after former Richmond player and VFL premiership captain Morris, who captained the Tigers to the VFL flag in 2019, while holding the captaincy from 2018-2021.
Throughout the year, the VFL playing group will vote for the Steve Morris Award recipient and the winner will be the individual who best embodies the Club's values, trademarks and standards.
Bill Cosgrove/Harry Jenkins Best First Year Player Award
This award is named in honour of former Richmond player Bill Cosgrove, and influential Richmond talent recruiter Harry Jenkins. Bill Cosgrove played for the Tigers before enlisting in the RAAF during World War 2, where he was sadly killed in action.
Harry Jenkins was a legendary talent scout from Tasmania who discovered Royce Hart and Michael Roach. The Bill Cosgrove/Harry Jenkins Award is presented to the best first-year player at the Richmond Football Club.
To be eligible for the Jenkins/Cosgrove Medal for Best First Year Player, the player must play his first AFL game with the Richmond Football Club in the award year.
VWFL Best and Fairest Awards
Awarded to the best and fairest player of the VWFL Community and Championship Division teams.
