The Coleman Medal is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

award given annually to the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) player who kicks the most goals in the home-and-away season. It is named after Essendon full-forward John Coleman, one of the most prolific goalkickers in the league's history, who was league leading goalkicker for five consecutive seasons. The medal has been presented at various different events, including the preliminary and

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

s, the

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

awards ceremony, and club award ceremonies. 's

Jesse Hogan Jesse Hogan (born 12 February 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). A key forward, Hogan is tall and weighs . He was a standout basketballer ...

is the most recent recipient, kicking 69 goals in 2024.

History

The award was first presented in 1981 to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

's Michael Roach. At the time, the competition was known as the Victorian Football League (VFL); it would become the AFL in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. It was named after John Coleman, a

full-forward Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player, often a full-forward, who has kicked the most goals in an Australian Football League seaso ...

and Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend who scored 537 goals in 98 games for Essendon between 1949 and 1954. In September 2001, the AFL decided to recognise all leading goalkickers prior to Roach's victory; leaders from 1955—the year after Coleman's last match—to 1980 were named retrospective Coleman Medallists, while winners prior to 1955 were named Leading Goalkicker Medallists. Medals were presented to winners or their surviving relatives in a ceremony at

Melbourne Town Hall Melbourne Town Hall, often referred to as simply Town Hall, is the administrative seat of the local municipality of the City of Melbourne and the primary offices of the Lord Mayor and city councillors of Melbourne. Located on the northeast co ...

in July 2004. Jack Collins, who had been a leading advocate for naming the award after Coleman and honouring leading goalkickers prior to 1981, was the only player to receive both a Coleman and a Leading Goalkicker Medal. Upon receiving the accolades, he was "bloody angry" and complained to the

AFL Commission The AFL Commission is the governing body of the Australian Football League Limited (AFL), its subsidiaries and controlled entities. Richard Goyder has been chairman since 4 April 2017, replacing Mike Fitzpatrick. It was formed in 1985 as the ...

, as he perceived the Leading Goalkicker Medal to be an inferior award. Collingwood is the club most frequently represented by Coleman and Leading Goalkicker Medallists: its players have won on 23 occasions, six clear of Geelong's tally of 17. The majority of Collingwood's awards were contributed by

Dick Lee Richard Lee Peng Boon (born 24 August 1956) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Lee was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's pinnacle arts award, for music in 2005. Early life Lee was born to a Peranakan fathe ...

(7) and

Gordon Coventry Gordon Richard James Coventry (25 September 1901 – 7 November 1968) was a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (1897–1989), Victorian Football League (VFL). Afforded ' ...

(6), which stand as the most and second-most in league history. Coleman himself won the Leading Goalkicker Medals in all five of his complete VFL seasons to have the third-most. As of 2023, there have been five four-time medallists, five three-time medallists, and 16 dual medallists.

Recipients

Multiple recipients

Club totals

Notes

References