Johnson had an exceptional season for Essendon in defence and he also made the occasional foray into the midfield. He was considered by most to be extremely unlucky to miss All-Australian selection. Johnson trailed Jason Johnson for much of the night but rallied late in the season to score a comfortable and very popular win.
The win completes a remarkable rise to prominence for Johnson. Mark was picked up by the Bombers in the 1997 Rookie Draft having missed out on being picked up in the National Draft. Despite winning the Essendon reserves best and fairest that season, the club told him they could not guarantee he would be re-rookied and suggested he nominate for the pre-season draft. Johnson did that but was not picked up and was forced into another rookie draft - the 1998 version. Essendon selected Johnson with its fifth and final selection in that draft. The following season he was elevated to the senior list and the rest as they say is history.
Some of the highlights of the 2002 Crichton Medal vote count were:
- The 2002 Crichton Medal winner Mark Johnson polled in 19 of Essendon's 24 games and polled 20 or more votes on seven occasions.
- Jason Johnson and Adam Ramanauskas who finished second and third respectively both polled in 17 of the 24 games.
- Joe Misiti polled in Essendon first six games and last seven games of the season meaning apart from the game he was injured in he polled in all but two of the games he played in.
- James Hird started the season in spectacular fashion polling in the first five games of the year. He showed just how courageous he is polling in six of the seven games immediately after he returned from his facial injuries.
- With Joe Misiti, James Hird, Matthew Lloyd and Mark Mercuri all sidelined through injury during the middle part of the season, Sean Wellman – the only remaining official team leader - stood tall. He polled votes in 12 consecutive games during the middle part of the season.
- Mark Bolton blossomed late in season 2002. He had not polled a vote until Round 15 but then collected votes in nine consecutive games to finish in 11th place.
- Paul Salmon justified his decision to come out of retirement polling votes in nine games including Essendon's two finals.
- According to the voting, James Hird produced the single best performance of the season. He polled 26 votes in Essendon's Round 1 win over Geelong. The second best performances of the year came from Mark Johnson (Round 12 v Hawthorn) and Scott Lucas (Elimination Final v West Coast) – they both polled 25 votes for those performances.
TAG HEUER CRICHTON MEDAL RESULTS
1st Mark Johnson 312 votes | |
| 2nd Jason Johnson 279 votes | |
| 3rd Adam Ramanauskas 259 votes | |
| 4th Joe Misiti 222 votes | |
| 5th Damien Peverill 216 votes |
> CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL LEADERBOARD, AND ROUND BY ROUND VOTING...
SENIOR AWARD WINNERS
| TAG HEUER BOMBERLAND PLAYER OF THE YEAR Jason Johnson | |
| CHEER SQUAD AWARD Mark Bolton | |
| TRAINERS AND STAFF BEST CLUB MAN - SENIORS Mark Bolton | |
| LEADING GOAL KICKER Matthew Lloyd | |
| BEST FIRST YEAR PLAYER Andrew Welsh | |
| MOST IMPROVED Mark Bolton | |
| MOST COURAGEOUS James Hird | |
| BEST CLUBMAN Damien Peverill | |
| COACH'S AWARD Lorna Birney Football Administration |
| BEST PERFORMANCE IN FINALS Jason Johnson and Mark Johnson (in the event of a tie, both are considered the winner) |
VFL AWARD WINNERS
| TRAINERS AND STAFF BEST CLUB MAN - VFL Cory McGrath | |
| LEADING GOAL KICKER Luke Hawkins | |
| COACH'S AWARD Anthony Alessio | |
| BEST AND FAIREST - FIRST Josh Mahoney | |
| BEST AND FAIREST - SECOND Ben Haynes | |
| BEST AND FAIREST - THIRD Ken Hall |
