Dhara Kerr Award Explained

Dhara Kerr Award
Awarded For:The best and fairest player in the WAFL Women's
Presenter:WAFLW
Country:Australia
Year:2019
Holder:Jayme Harken

The Dhara Kerr Medal is awarded to the best and fairest player in the WAFL Women's (WAFLW) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game. The award was part of the original West Australian Women's Football League competition and was carried over to the WAFLW when it commenced in 2019. Kerr was born in Warrnambool, Victoria in 1971 and died in Perth in 1995, three years after she had relocated to Western Australia and begun playing football for Innaloo.[1]

Criteria

Voting procedure

To determine the best player, the three field umpires (not the goal umpires or boundary umpires) confer after each home-and-away match and award three votes, two votes and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. On the awards night, the votes from each match are tallied, and the player or players with the highest number of votes is awarded the medal (subject to eligibility – see below).

The current voting system, which is the same as that of similar awards such as the Australian Football League (AFL)'s Brownlow Medal or the AFL Women's best and fairest, has been used since the award's inception in the WAFLW. If two or more eligible players score the equal highest number of votes, each wins the medal.

Ineligibility

The fairest component of the trophy is achieved by making ineligible any player who is suspended by the WAFL Tribunal during the home-and-away season. An ineligible player cannot win the award, regardless of the number of votes she has received.

A player remains eligible for the award under the following circumstances:

Umpires cast their votes for each game independent of eligibility criteria of the players; i.e. umpires can cast votes for players who have already been suspended during that season if they perceive them to be amongst the best on the ground.

Winners

SeasonPlayerClubVotesRef.
2019 align=left 13 [2]
2020 align=left (2) align=left 9 [3]
2021 align=left align=left 15 [4]
2022 align=left align=left 18 [5]
2023 align=left align=left 24 [6] [7]
2024 align=left (2) align=left 27 [8]

Records

Winners who also won a premiership in the same season

Winners who also led the league goalkicking in the same season

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Inaugural WAFL Women's awards. 5 September 2019. WA Football Commission. 30 July 2020. 16 March 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200316191036/http://www.wafootball.com.au/news/17957/inaugural-wafl-womens-awards. live.
  2. Web site: Subiaco leaders share Dhara Kerr Award spoils. WA Football Commission. 9 September 2019. 30 July 2020. 16 March 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200316190933/http://www.wafootball.com.au/news/17994/subiaco-leaders-share-dhara-kerr-award-spoils. live.
  3. Web site: Pisconeri goes back-to-back in Dhara Kerr Medal. WA Football Commission. 29 September 2020.
  4. Web site: Ella Smith claims 2021 Dhara Kerr Medal. WA Football Commission. 14 July 2021.
  5. Web site: Sharon Wong claims 2022 Dhara Kerr Medal. WA Football Commission. 28 June 2022. 5 July 2022. 5 July 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220705130522/https://www.wafootball.com.au/news/22400/sharon-wong-claims-2022-dhara-kerr-medal?a. live.
  6. Web site: Claremont's Jayme Harken wins Dhara Kerr Medal . WA Football Commission . 14 July 2023 . 11 July 2023 . 15 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240815061038/https://wafootball.com.au/news/24103/claremonts-jayme-harken-wins-dhara-kerr-medal . live .
  7. Web site: Woodcock . Mitchell . WAFLW 2023: Claremont star recruit Jayme Harken claims Dhara Kerr Medal after move from Subiaco . thewest.com.au . Seven West Media . 14 July 2023 . 10 July 2023.
  8. Web site: Claremont’s Jayme Harken wins second Dhara Kerr Medal . WA Football Commission . 7 July 2024 . 1 July 2024 . 7 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240707105955/https://wafootball.com.au/news/25348/claremonts-jayme-harken-wins-second-dhara-kerr-medal . live .