Brad Crouch has produced a career-best season to win his first Malcolm Blight Medal at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Thursday night.
The 25-year-old claimed the gold jacket after he edged out captain Rory Sloane by just five votes.
Sloane was the early leader after being the only Crow to poll double-figure votes in six of the
first eight rounds but was overtaken by Crouch in Round 11.
On the back of a purple patch from Round Nine to 13, in which the Ballarat product was rated the Crows’ best player four times, Crouch held the lead for the rest of the evening to finish on 208 votes, just clear of runner-up Sloane (203).
Sloane, a dual Club Champion, finished second for the fourth time in his career, after runner-up placings in 2012, 2014 and 2017.
Rory Laird, who took home the gold jacket in 2018, finished third (191) - his fourth podium finish over the last five years - with Matt Crouch (180) and Brodie Smith (179) rounding out the top five.
Brad received a season-high 18 of a possible 20 votes in Adelaide’s win over Richmond in Round 13, collecting a career-high 43 disposals, 11 clearances, six inside-50s and four rebound-50s.
After missing the entire 2018 season with a groin injury, he returned in Round One and went on to become one of seven Crows to play all 22 games this year.
Crouch averaged a career-best 30.2 disposals (ranked eighth across the AFL home and away season) and finished second at the Club for clearances and tackles with totals of 117 and 111 respectively.
The midfielder also recorded 86 inside-50s - the most of any Crow - to go with 11 goals.
He also tallied 14 Brownlow votes, collecting maximum votes in two games - Round 11 and Round 13.
Final Leaderboard Top 10
1 - Brad Crouch (208)
2 - Rory Sloane (203)
3 - Rory Laird (191)
4 - Matt Crouch (180)
5 - Brodie Smith (179)
6 - Daniel Talia (165)
7- Taylor Walker (148)
8 - Rory Atkins (129)
9 - Alex Keath (127)
10 - David Mackay (119)
Major Award Winners 2019
Malcolm Blight Medallist: Brad Crouch
Runner-up: Rory Sloane
Third place: Rory Laird
Leading Goalkicker Award: Taylor Walker
Mark Bickley Emerging Talent Award: Chayce Jones
Players’ Trademark Award: Rory Sloane
Brian Sando OAM Trophy: Reilly O’Brien
Members’ MVP Award: Daniel Talia
Crows Children’s Foundation Community Leadership Award: Tom Doedee
Phil Walsh Best Team Man Award: Kyle Hartigan
State League Club Champion: Patrick Wilson
Dean Bailey Award: Matt Merrett
Club Champion Voting Protocol
1 vote: Played their role without significant influence on the game
2 votes: Played their role well and influenced the game
3 votes: Played their role very well with significant influence on the game
4 votes: Played their role outstandingly and dominated the game
Former winners
1991 – Mark Mickan
1992 – Chris McDermott
1993 – Tony McGuinness
1994 – Shaun Rehn
1995 – Matthew Connell
1996 – Matthew Liptak
1997 – Andrew McLeod
1998 – Mark Ricciuto
1999 – Ben Hart
2000 – Simon Goodwin
2001 – Andrew McLeod
2002 – Ben Hart
2003 – Mark Ricciuto
2004 – Mark Ricciuto
2005 – Simon Goodwin
2006 – Simon Goodwin
2007 – Andrew McLeod
2008 – Nathan Bock
2009 – Bernie Vince
2010 – Richard Douglas
2011 – Scott Thompson
2012 – Scott Thompson
2013 – Rory Sloane
2014 – Daniel Talia
2015 – Patrick Dangerfield
2016 – Rory Sloane
2017 – Matt Crouch
2018 – Rory Laird
2019 - Brad Crouch
