History was made on Sunday morning when Southern Saints midfielder, Carlos Donnell-Brown and Central Giants ruckman, Kirk Murray were announced as joint winners for the 2021 AFL New Zealand Premiership Best and Fairest Award.
The announcement was made at the 2021 Premiership Grand Final Breakfast on Sunday morning at North Harbour Stadium.
The votes were awarded by the Umpires following each game throughout the season with best on ground receiving 4 votes.
Both players polled 4 votes in their respective games during the final round to finish on 10 votes for the season and became the first players to share the award in the competitions history.
Carlos added the Premiership Best and Fairest award to his long list of AFL accomplishments. Donnell-Brown has won the National AFL Cup Secondary Schools Competition with Green Bay High School, won the Auckland AFL League with the Waitakere Magpies in an undefeated season, Best and Fairest winner in the Auckland AFL, he is an NPC winner with Auckland, played for the NZ Academy Level 2, U18’s (Captain) and Senior sides and has won 2 AFL New Zealand Premierships with the Saints.
Kirk Murray won back to back club awards for the Giants in 2020 and 2021 and has been superb all season.
From the Hawkes Bay, Murray is a versatile ruckman who plays like a rover. He is also a very accurate kickin front of goal.
There was also a tie for second place with Will Dickinson (Western Crows), Declan Crann (Western Crows) and Dale Johnson (Southern Saints) all finished on 8 votes.
Past winners include Brandon Sucu (2016), Andriu Sucu (2017) from the Southern Saints, Western Crows Captain Jay Johnson (2018), Jay Green (Western Crows) in 2019 and Andrew Bisset (Southern Saints) in 2020.
2021 Best and Fairest results:
1st: Kirk Murray (Central Giants) and Carlos Donnell-Brown (Southern Saints) – 10 votes
2nd: Will Dickinson (Western Crows), Declan Crann (Western Crows), Dale Johnson (Southern Saints) – 8 votes
