Tim Taranto has won his third Jack Dyer Medal, taking home Richmond’s Best and Fairest award for 2026.
In just four seasons at the Swinburne Centre, Taranto has won the Club’s Best and Fairest three times, including back-to-back wins in the past two campaigns.
He joins some of the Club’s elite in Trent Cotchin, Ron Branton, Neville Crowe, Bill Morris and Geoff Raines as three-time winners of the award.
Taranto now sits behind only Wayne Campbell and Roy Wright (four), and Kevin Bartlett and Jack Dyer (five) for the most Richmond Best and Fairest awards in the Club’s VFL/AFL history.
The hard-nosed midfielder polled an impressive 55 votes to finish just ahead of Kevin Bartlett Medal winner, Jack Ross, who finished on 47 votes.
Taranto received four votes in nine of his 21 matches, as well as the maximum five votes for a stellar game in Round 21 where he had 32 disposals and kicked a goal in a win against West Coast.
Taranto enjoyed a brilliant season, averaging 24.8 disposals, 11.3 kicks, 13.5 handballs, 6.4 total clearances and 5.2 tackles.
With Toby Nankervis missing 12 games due to injury, Taranto took up the captaincy, leading the side with his relentless pressure and commitment.
The 28-year-old’s ability to win the football was second to none this season, demonstrating his elite work rate and willingness to put his body on the line for his team.
He led Richmond in tackles (109), inside-50s (86), clearances (134) and contested possessions (264).
Additionally, Taranto booted 15 goals this season, matching his goal tally from last year, proving to be a damaging asset in attack.
Taranto’s immense output was on full display in Round 16 against Collingwood, amassing 26 disposals, 11 contested possessions and four goals.
He also recorded 36 disposals and 24 contested possessions in the season finale against Geelong, the most contested possessions recorded by a Richmond player in a single game since the stat started being recorded.
Not only has Taranto now won three Jack Dyer Medals, but he also won the Kevin Sheedy Medal as the GWS Best and Fairest in 2019, making him a four-time Club Champion.
Taranto also polled the most Brownlow Medal votes of any Tiger this year, the second straight season he has done so.
Taranto accepted his Jack Dyer Medal on Tuesday night at Crown.
2026 Jack Dyer Medal Leaderboard
1st Jack Dyer Medal - Tim Taranto (55 votes)
2nd Kevin Bartlett Medal - Jack Ross (47)
3rd Roy Wright Medal - Nick Vlastuin (32)
Eq 4th Trent Cotchin Medal - Seth Campbell and Dion Prestia (31)
6th Nathan Broad (28)
7th Jayden Short (27)
Eq 8th Toby Nankervis and Ben Miller (24)
Eq 10th Noah Balta and Patrick Retschko (23)
12th Sam Lalor (21)
Eq 13th Sam Cumming and Sam Grlj (20)
*The Jack Titus Medal (5th) was not awarded this year, due to a tie between the fourth-placed vote getters.
Under the Jack Dyer Medal voting system, all the team’s players on 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 a below-average performance.
