Inspirational Essendon midfielder Mark Mercuri capped off a superb season by winning his first W.S. Crichton Medal at last night’s best and fairest vote count held in the Palladium Ballroom at Crown Casino.
Mercuri had an outstanding season with his second place in the Brownlow Medal behind the all-conquering Shane Crawford testament to that.
It was his best season since making his debut with the Bombers in 1992 and he earned All-Australian selection for the first time.
Mercuri’s best result in the W.S. Crichton Medal prior to last Wednesday came in 1996 when he was runner-up to James Hird. He finished fourth in last year’s count behind Damien Hardwick.
Joe Misiti finished second in the count, polling 294 votes which was a remarkable effort considering he missed a total of six games through injury and suspension. Michael Long wound up in third place just ahead of Matthew Lloyd and Dustin Fletcher.
Lloyd provided one of the highlights of the voting, when he collected a perfect 30 votes for his round three, 13-goal haul against the Sydney Swans.
Mercuri collected 27 votes for his round 16 performance against Carlton – incredibly he didn’t poll a Brownlow vote in that round.
The final voting for the 1999 award was:
Mark Mercuri 370, Joe Misiti 294, Michael Long 234, Matthew Lloyd 228, Dustin Fletcher 224, Damien Hardwick 207, Darren Bewick 181, Chris Heffernan, 151, Steven Alessio 137, Justin Blumfield 135, Gary Moorcroft 134, Sean Wellman 123, Blake Caracella 120, Barry Young 114, Dean Solomon 113, Paul Barnard 104, Mark Fraser 83, Michael Prior 75, Dean Rioli 70, Mark Johnson 69, Sean Denham 56, Dean Wallis 43, Scott Lucas 31, Andrew Ukovic 22, Michael Symons 21, James Hird 17, Simon Eastaugh 14, Peter Somerville 4 and Judd Lalich 2.
Other award winners on Crichton Medal night were:
Rebel Sport Fans Player of the Year: Mark Mercuri
Cheer Squad Award: Paul Barnard
Trainers Award: Steven Alessio
Reserves Goalkicking: Matthew Banks
Reserves Coach’s Award: Simon Eastaugh
Reserves Best and Fairest: Adam Ramanauskas
Seniors Goalkicking: Matthew Lloyd
Best First Year Player: Mark Johnson, Dean Rioli
Most Improved Player: Chris Heffernan
Most Courageous Player: Dean Solomon
Best Clubman: Dustin Fletcher
Coach’s Award: Peter Berbakov
