First-year Bomber Marc Bullen won the VFL Best and Fairest award in season 2001. Bullen polled 256 votes to edge out wily veteran Sean Denham who polled 243 votes. Mark Bolton finished third with 200 votes. The VFL Best and Fairest was voted on by coach Terry Daniher and assistant coaches Dean Bailey and David Flood. As with the W.S. Crichton Medal, each could give eight players a maximum of 10 votes in any one game. Bullen polled in 16 games during the season. His best two performances of the season came in rounds 17 and 18 when he polled 24 votes against Carlton and Port Melbourne respectively.

Bullen's outstanding season saw him poll 20 votes or more in seven games and he also earned senior selection. Sean Denham polled votes in nine of the first 10 matches and 15 for the season. He polled 20 or more votes in five games. Mark Bolton, who played a number of senior games, polled in 11 games. Bolton also turned in the best individual performance of the season polling 27 votes in the Bombers round 16 match against Frankston.

The final voting for season 2001 was:

Marc Bullen 256
Sean Denham 243
Mark Bolton 200
Jonathon Robran 179
Josh Mahoney 172
David Hille 164
Michael Davis 130
Jordon Bannister 126
Ken Hall 125
Judd Lalich 120
Ted Richards 105
Ben Cranage 101
Cory McGrath 99
Ben Goddard 96
Adam Switala 93
James Podsiadly 74
James Davies 64
Rob Forster-Knight 60
Luke Hawkins 51
David Johnson 48
Damien Peverill 44
Shane Sheppard 42
Justin Blumfield 33
Scott Goldsworthy 32
Gary Moorcroft 32
Daniel McAlister 23
Steven Alessio 22
Aaron Henneman 19
Marcus Kenny 11
Dean Wallis 10
Sam Hunt 6