North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel and Tristan Xerri have been named joint winners of the 2025 Syd Barker Medal, finishing in a thrilling tie at the club’s best and fairest awards night.<\/p>\n
This marks just the sixth time in the club’s history that the award has been shared, with both players ending the count with 207 votes, just ahead of last year’s winner, Luke Davies-Uniacke, who finished in third place with 187 votes. Luke Parker (167 votes) and skipper Jy Simpkin (164 votes) rounded out the top five.<\/p>\n
After winning the award in his debut season, Sheezel has now secured his second Syd Barker Medal, cementing his status as one of the league’s elite players. The 20-year-old played in every game of the season, showcasing his elite football IQ and unwavering consistency.<\/p>\n
He averaged 29.3 disposals per game, acting as a key driver of the Kangaroos’ attack, and collected more than 30 disposals on 11 occasions.<\/p>\n
Sheezel’s standout moment came in Round 23 with his record-equalling performance against Richmond at Ninja Stadium, when he amassed a mammoth 54 disposals in the win.<\/p>\n
Building on his runner-up finish last season, Xerri has solidified his standing as one of the competition’s premier rucks with his first Syd Barker Medal.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old was a towering presence in the midfield, achieving career-high numbers in hit-outs, contested possessions, and clearances. His relentless workrate and physicality were a driving force for the team.<\/p>\n
He was also voted the Glenn Archer Shinboner of the Year by his teammates, a testament to his on- and off-field contributions, and won the Mazda BT-50 Give It Heaps award, voted by fans.<\/p>\n
Davies-Uniacke rounded out the podium with a third-placed finish. His trademark power and burst from stoppages remained a highlight of North Melbourne’s midfield, with the 26-year-old averaging 24.7 disposals and over six clearances per game.<\/p>\n
Finn O\u2019Sullivan took out the Best Young Player award in his debut season. Selected at Pick No. 2 in the 2024 AFL Draft, O’Sullivan played all but one game and was nominated for the Telstra AFL Rising Star award in Round 15 after his performance in the win against Carlton.<\/p>\n
Co-vice-captain Nick Larkey was recognised by his peers and named the Harold Henderson Best Clubman.<\/p>\n
Wil Dawson received the Peter Scanlon Community Award for his work as a dedicated ambassador for the AFL Players\u2019 charity organisation LADDER.<\/p>\n
The club has also inducted four life members, with Leigh Adams, Julie Laycock, Geoff Walsh and Janet Fox all given the prestigious honour.<\/p>\n
\u2018Patch\u2019 Adams spent 15 years all up at North Melbourne \u2013 nine years as a player (2007-15) and another six as an assistant coach (2020-25). He was a courageous midfielder\/forward as a player, with a no-nonsense approach to the game.<\/p>\n
Laycock has had a 16-year involvement with the club, serving on the North Melbourne Board from 2011-20 and was the club\u2019s first-ever female director.<\/p>\n
Walsh had two stints at North Melbourne, from 1994-2006 then from 2013-16. He served as the club\u2019s CEO from 2002-06.<\/p>\n
Fox started in an official voluntary role with the club in 2003, but through her family connection, she has always been a part of North Melbourne. She has been a fan, a stand-in mother figure to our country and interstate players, and continues to support the football department on all Melbourne match days.<\/p>\n
Voting System
Coaches vote individually after each round via a 4, 3, 2, 1 voting system. The votes can be applied to every player but don\u2019t have to be awarded if a player is not deserving.<\/p>\n
4 \u2013 Standout best on ground
3 \u2013 Excellent game, in the best players on the ground
2 \u2013 Played your role with influence
1 \u2013 Played your role<\/p>\n
Five coaches vote each week, with a player able to receive a maximum of 20 votes in any one game. If two players finish on the same number of votes, a countback is applicable for all minor placings.<\/p>\n
Other award winners<\/p>\n
Best Young Player Award \u2013 Finn O\u2019Sullivan
Glenn Archer Shinboner of the Year Award \u2013 Tristan Xerri
Mazda BT-50 Give It Heaps Award \u2013 Tristan Xerri
Harold Henderson Best Clubman Award \u2013 Nick Larkey
Peter Scanlon Community Award \u2013 Wil Dawson
Life Memberships \u2013 Julie Laycock, Geoff Walsh, Janet Fox, Leigh Adams
John Law Medal (VFL Best & Fairest) \u2013 Darcy Macpherson\u00a0
VFL Best Clubman Award \u2013 Matthew Keast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel and Tristan Xerri have been named joint winners of the 2025 Syd Barker Medal,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-140299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}