BREAKING barriers is nothing new to Gold Coast champion Gary Ablett and the AFL sensation created more history with his first fairest-and-best award with the AFL’s new club.
Ablett, 27, added an historic first ever Suns club champion standing to his Brownlow Medal from 2009 and two Geelong fairest-and-best wins late into his glittering Cats career before joining the new club for 2011.
Readers can stay in touch with club fairest-and-best awards as they unfold over coming weeks, right here at sportsnewsfirst.com.au.
Ablett won the Suns inaugural top player award after a stunning season averaging 30 possessions a week in the young outfit as he collected 196 votes.
Ablett took his Suns award ahead of fellow veterans and high profile marquee signings Nathan Bock with his 138 votes and Michael Rischitelli third on 108, after he won Brisbane’s top honour last season before heading down the road to the rising Suns franchise.
Adelaide veteran Scott Thompson capped his remarkable season in an otherwise dismal Crows year with a runaway club best victory.
Thompson, 28, rattled up an average of 30.5 possessions a week from 22 games, including a staggering 51 disposals in the Crows 10-goal win over Ablett’s Gold Coast on the Gold Coast in Round 22.
Thompson polled 83 votes with his nearest rival first-year Crows captain Nathan van Berlo on 50.
Tom Rockliff was worthy Brisbane Lions fairest and best, but possibly somewhat of a surprise ahead of proven vote-catching superstar Simon Black.
Rockliff, 21, collected his first top Lions prize with 37.5 votes ahead of the 296-game veteran Black on 35.5 who, has previously won three top awards at Brisbane.
Young Richmond midfielder Trent Cotchin won his first Tigers top player medal when votes were counted at the plush Crown Palladium on Tuesday, September 13.
Cotchin, just 21, polled 236 votes to head two-time winner Brett Deledio, who finished on 203 votes. Another exciting young Tiger Dustin Martin was third with 198 votes.
Cotchin is the same age as Deledio was when he won his first Jack Dyer Medal in 2008.
Melbourne onballer Brent Moloney capped off an outstanding year at the Demons, winning the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Memorial Trophy at a prestigious ceremony at Crown Palladium.
Moloney, who finished second in the 2009 fairest and best awards at the club, claimed the '11 award with 227 votes from second-placed Jared Rivers on 201.
Moloney, 27, led the club in possessions, amassing 509 touches in his 22 games in what was clearly his best season so far for the Demons.
Port Adelaide's prestigious night had a thrilling finish in 2011, with midfielder Travis Boak and youngster Jackson Trengove crowned joint winners of the John Cahill Medal.
Boak, 23, was recognised for his excellent work in the Power midfield, while Trengove, just 20, had an impressive year in the backline.
The pair won the award tied on 13 votes each, with Tom Logan second place on 10 votes.
North Melbourne's fairest and best night was provided more drama with midfielders Daniel Wells and Andrew Swallow named joint winners of the Syd Barker Medal.
The two on-ballers were locked on 46 votes each as the count concluded, 10 more than nearest rival Drew Petrie, in a stunning finish at the prestigious Crown Palladium.
Wells, 26, took out his first Syd Barker Medal and Swallow, 24, grabbed his second fairest and best after winning the Kangaroos' award in 2009.
Carlton midfielder Marc Murphy won his first John Nicholls Medal in a runaway victory over his skipper Chris Judd, at a glittering ceremony at Crown Palladium.
Murphy, 24, collected the top award polling 678 votes, steaming away from Judd - who finished second on 469 - to cap off a stunning season for the Blues.
Murphy racked up 639 touches over a stellar 2011 season and was named in the All-Australian side.
The Western Bulldogs named skipper Matthew Boyd their fairest and best at a prestigious ceremony at Peninsula in Docklands.
Boyd took home his second Charles Sutton Medal after a fantastic season for the Bulldogs, polling 140 votes, 10 more than fellow veteran Bob Murphy.
It caps off a sensational season for Boyd, who won All-Australian selection and came third overall in the 2011 Brownlow Medal count.
Geelong rounded out their premiership-winning season by awarding club champion and veteran defender Corey Enright the 2011 Carji Greeves Medallist.
Enright, 30, won his second Cats best and fairest, polling 150 votes to just pip fellow club favourite Joel Corey, who polled 143, in a spectacular ceremony at Crown Casino in front of more than 1,700 guests.
The veteran backman claimed victory by grabbing seven votes for his heroic performance against Collingwood in the Cats' 38-point grand final victory.
Collingwood midfielder Scott Pendlebury claimed his first Copeland Trophy for the 2011 runners-up, beating Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan for the prestigious award.
In front of more than 1,800 guests, Pendlebury snuck home by 11 votes from Swan, polling 65 votes to add a best and fairest to his two All-Australian honours.
Pendlebury, 23, has established himself as one of the league's most decorated on-ballers, having already won a Norm Smith Medal and a premiership, all in just six seasons of football.
Essendon named young on-baller David Zaharakis as the 2011 Crichton Medallist in a glittering best and fairest ceremony at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Zaharakis won his first fairest and best award in just his third season at the Bombers, polling 332 votes, from second-placed Brent Stanton on 313.
Zaharakis, just 21, played every game for Essendon in 2011 and polled votes in 15 of his performances.
West Coast veteran backman Darren Glass won his third Club Champion award at a stunning ceremony at Perth's Burswood Casino.
Glass won the award after the thrilling count ended with the skipper tied for first place with accomplished midfielder Matthew Priddis on 398 votes each.
The premiership defender was awarded the best and fairest after a count-back showed he had averaged a higher number of votes for his games played than Priddis.
It is the second time Priddis has been pipped for the Eagles' highest honour, after missing the last three games cost him last year's award.
St Kilda defender Sam Fisher was a surprise winner of the 2011 Trevor Barker award, finishing just three votes clear of Brownlow Medal runner-up Nick Dal Santo.
Fisher, 29, claimed his second Saints best and fairest, polling 557 votes after a superb season in defense for the at times under siege St Kilda side.
Sydney named Adam Goodes as the 2011 Bob Skilton Medallist after another brilliant season form the legendary dual-Brownlow Medallist.
Goodes, 31, won the Swans' best and fairest award for the third time, after previously taking home the prestigious award in 2003 and '06.
The champion on-baller polled 615 votes over the season in a runaway victory from Rhyce Shaw and Josh Kennedy, who tied for second place on 573.
Hawthorn champion midfielder Sam Mitchell deservedly took out the 2011 Peter Crimmins Medal, after an outstanding season for the Hawks.
Mitchell, 28, won his third Hawks best and fairest award, polling 177 votes, 17 most than second placed defender Josh Gibson.
Mitchell capped off a superb season by winning the Peter Crimmins Medal, after polling the second-most amount of votes in the 2011 Brownlow Medal count and leading his side's possession count across the board.
To round out the season's best and fairest awards, Fremantle provided a dramatic and unexpected result, crowning skipper Matthew Pavlich the 2011 Doig Medallist.
Pavlich, who won the award for a record sixth time, polled 144 votes from 20 games for the season, in which he was rotated through the Dockers' forward line and midfield.
But in the shock of the year, raging Doig Medal favourite Nat Fyfe fell three votes short of what would have been his first best and fairest and the cherry on top of his break-out year.