Robust Richmond midfielder Daniel Jackson has capped off the best season of a 10-year league career by winning his inaugural Jack Dyer Medal.

Jackson underlined the significant improvement he showed throughout 2013, polling 264 votes in the Club’s Best and Fairest count held tonight (Monday, September 30) in a packed Palladium Ballroom at Crown, to edge out young gun midfielder Dustin Martin, on 255 votes, with experienced key defender Troy Chaplin completing an excellent first-up season at Tigerland by finishing third, on 241 votes.  Dual Jack Dyer Medallist Brett Deledio was a further three votes behind (238) in fourth place, while captain Trent Cotchin, aiming for a third consecutive Best and Fairest, finished fifth (237 votes).

At 27 years, five months, Jackson is the oldest first-time winner of the Jack Dyer Medal since Matthew Richardson in 2007.

Jackson was prominent from the outset in the 2013 Best and Fairest vote count.  He was in equal second place halfway through the count, and a season-high 19 votes in the Round 16 win against Gold Coast at Cazalys Stadium propelled him on the path to Jack Dyer Medal glory.

The 146-game veteran played all 23 games in season 2013, averaging 22.3 disposals per match.  He was ranked No. 4 at the Club for total disposals (513), racking up a season-high 30 touches in both the Round 20 match against Brisbane at the MCG and the final home-and-away round clash with Essendon at the ‘G’.

Jackson was ranked equal first at Tigerland (alongside Brett Deledio) for inside-50 entries (95 in total), first for tackles (90), second for contested possessions (219), and he also scored a career-best return of 18 goals for the season.

Martin achieved the best Jack Dyer Medal result of his four-year AFL career, having previously finished third in 2011.

The 22-year-old, who played all 23 games for the Tigers in season 2013, averaged 24.2 disposals per match, with a career-high 35 against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium in Round 3.

He was ranked No. 1 at the Club (and 7^th in the competition) for uncontested possessions (403), No. 2 for total disposals (557), No. 3 for inside-50s (91), 6^th in the competition for total kicks (382), and finished third on Richmond’s goalkicking list for the season with 23 goals.

Chaplin, who joined the Tigers in October last year as a restricted free agent, following a 140-game AFL career with Port Adelaide, had an instant, impressive impact at his new league club.

The 27-year-old played 22 games during the season, averaging 14 disposals and 5.9 marks per match. 

He had a season-high 23 disposals in the Round 22 clash with Greater Western Sydney at Skoda Stadium and was ranked No. 2 at the Club for one percenters (79), equal 3^rd for total marks (130) and 4^th for rebound-50s (59).

Deledio continued his fine Jack Dyer Medal record, with the sixth top-five placing of his nine-year league career.

The competition’s consecutive games record-holder (138),  averaged 23.8 disposals per match in 2013, with a season-high 32 against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in Round 7.

He was ranked 3^rd at the Club for total disposals (547), 3^rd for contested possessions (172), 3^rd for uncontested possessions (350) and 3^rd for rebound-50s (69).

Cotchin, in his first year as Richmond’s captain, averaged 26 disposals per match in the 22 games he played, with a season-high 36 against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium in Round 3.

He was ranked No. 1 at the Club for total disposals (571), No. 1 for contested possessions (259), No. 1 for total clearances (118), No. 1 for centre clearances (56) and No. 4 for inside-50s (79).

The voting system for the Jack Dyer Medal is, as follows . . .

After every game, the five members of the Club’s match committee cast votes for each of the team’s 22 players.

Each player receives zero to five votes from each coach, so the highest tally an individual can poll in a match is 25 votes.

Five votes are awarded for an outstanding performance, four for an excellent game, all the way down to zero.

Here is the list of the top 20 vote-getters in the 2013 Jack Dyer Medal . . .

2013 Jack Dyer Medal placings
1^st           Daniel Jackson  264 votes (Jack Dyer Medal winner)
2^nd          Dustin Martin    255 (Jack Titus Medal winner)
3^rd           Troy Chaplin      241 (Maurie Fleming Medal winner)
4^th           Brett Deledio    238 (Fred Swift Medal winner)
5^th           Trent Cotchin    237 (Kevin Bartlett Medal winner)
6^th           Alex Rance         231
Eq 7^th     Steven Morris   211
Eq 7^th     Jack Riewoldt    211
9^th           Shaun Grigg        191
10^th         Bachar Houli      187
11^th         Ivan Maric           175
12^th         Ty Vickery           172
13^th         Brandon Ellis     163
14^th         Shane Edwards 156
15^th         Nick Vlastuin     153
16^th         Chris Newman  151
17^th         Reece Conca      143
18^th         Jake King             138
19^th         Matt White         136
20^th         Nathan Foley     115