In an exciting vote count, Hird held a 23-vote lead going into the final game of the season, the semi-final against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. That was exactly the number of votes picked up by Lucas who was clearly the Bombers’ best player on the night. The tie was sealed when Hird failed to collect a vote.
For the majority of the count it was Jason Johnson and Matthew Lloyd who looked likely to fight out the finish. Johnson led by 32 votes at the halfway mark of the count and it was Lloyd who held an eight-vote lead with just four rounds to go. However Hird and Lucas finished too well late in the season.
Crichton Medal voting is based on three members of the match committee giving a maximum of 10 votes for up to eight players in each game. Hird polled votes in 14 of the 16 games he played. The maximum number of votes any single performance attracted in 2003 was 26 and Hird did that three times – Round 18 v Carlton, Round 21 v Fremantle and the Elimination Final v Fremantle.
Scott Lucas polled votes in 18 games – his best performance of the season was judged to come in Round 20 v Richmond when he collected 24 votes. Lucas polled votes in 10 of his 11 last games.
Apart from Hird there were only two other 26-vote performances – Dustin Fletcher in Round 2 v Melbourne when he shut down David Neitz and Matthew Lloyd for his 11-goal performance against the Western Bulldogs in Round 19.
Other awards presented during the night were:
Leading Goalkicker: Matthew Lloyd
Most Improved: David Hille
Best First Year Player: Damian Cupido
Most Courageous: Adam McPhee
Best Clubman: Adam Ramanauskas
Best Finals’ Player: Scott Lucas
VFL Best and Fairest: Nick Carter
TOP 10 IN 2003 CRICHTON MEDAL
James Hird 301
Scott Lucas 301
Jason Johnson 282
Matthew Lloyd 263
Mark Johnson 255
Damien Peverill 214
Dean Solomon 166
Dean Rioli 143
Sean Wellman 140
David Hille 135
MOST CRICHTON MEDALS
7 Dick Reynolds (1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1943)
7 Bill Hutchison (1946, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956)
4 James Hird (1994, 1995, 1996, 2003)
4 Simon Madden (1977, 1979, 1983, 1984)
4 Tim Watson (1980, 1985, 1988, 1989)
3 Tom Fitzmaurice (1922, 1923, 1924)
3 Wally Buttsworth ((1941, 1945, 1947)
3 John Birt (1961, 1965 1967)
3 Barry Davis (1968, 1969, 1971)
3 Graham Moss (1974, 1975, 1976)
