Lambert-Pearce Medal winner Ange Gogos and J.J. Liston Trophy winner Jacob Dawson the 2025 VFL and VFLW Awards. Picture: Josh Chadwick\/AFL Photos<\/p>\n
Southport Sharks co-captain Jacob Dawson and Darebin Falcons star Ange Gogos were crowned the Smithy\u2019s VFL and rebel VFLW best and fairest winners at the 2025 VFL and VFLW Awards, which were held at Marvel Stadium on Monday night.<\/p>\n
Both players completed the double by also being named the Coaches MVP, with Gogos sharing the rebel VFLW Coaches MVP with Williamstown midfielder Emily Eaves in the first tie in the award\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Dawson\u2019s breakthrough for the J.J. Liston Trophy as the best and fairest player in the Smithy\u2019s VFL followed top-10 placings in each of the past three seasons, including finishing runner-up to Tom Gribble in 2022.<\/p>\n
He polled 28 votes to finish five ahead of Casey Demons half back Riley Bonner (23 votes), with 2024 winner Dom Brew in third place on 21 votes.<\/p>\n
Dawson polled votes from the umpires in 11 of his 17 matches, which included eight best on ground performances. He received top votes in each of the opening three rounds of the season, before repeating the feat in Rounds 14-16.<\/p>\n
Throughout the home and away season Dawson averaged 34.5 disposals, 16.5 contested possessions, 9.3 clearances, 4.5 inside 50m entries and 3.3 tackles.<\/p>\n
He also turned in big performances in both the qualifying and preliminary finals to steer Southport into its third Grand Final in four seasons, with the Sharks set to take on the Footscray Bulldogs in the 2025 Smithy\u2019s VFL Grand Final at IKON Park this Sunday.<\/p>\n
Dawson was crowned the Coaches MVP for the second time after winning the award in 2022, before finishing runner-up in 2023 and third in 2024.<\/p>\n
He received votes in 14 matches to finish with a total of 87 votes, ahead of Box Hill Hawks midfielder Henry Hustwaite (80) and Coburg recruit Jack Bytel (75).<\/p>\n
An AFLW premiership player with the Western Bulldogs in 2018, Gogos added to her impressive football resume with the highest individual honour in the rebel VFLW, the Lambert-Pearce Medal as the competition\u2019s best and fairest player.<\/p>\n
She polled votes in 11 of 13 matches, to finish with 25 votes. Essendon skipper El Chaston was runner-up for the second-successive season with 21 votes, while dual North Melbourne-Werribee premiership star Maddie Di Cosmo was third on 19 votes.<\/p>\n
Gogos was a prolific ball winner throughout the 2025 campaign, averaging 25.5 disposals, 16.8 contested possessions, 9.5 clearances and 3.8 inside 50s per match. She was also outstanding defensively and averaged 10.2 tackles per game.<\/p>\n
Her efforts were also recognised by the coaches, with the 36-year-old winning the Coaches MVP for the second-successive season, this year sharing the award with Williamstown\u2019s Emily Eaves after both polled 77 votes.<\/p>\n
They edged out Maddie Di Cosmo by a single vote, with El Chaston close behind in fourth on 68 votes.<\/p>\n
Collingwood midfielder Tahlia Sanger was awarded the Debbie Lee Medal as the VFLW Rising Star. In her debut season, Sanger was selected in the rebel VFLW Team of the Year, finished fifth the Coaches MVP voting and featured in Collingwood\u2019s Grand Final team.<\/p>\n
Frankston recruit Tom Blamires was recognised for an outstanding first season with the Dolphins after joining from Sandringham by claiming the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal as the most promising player in the Smithy\u2019s VFL aged 24 or under.<\/p>\n
VFL life membership was awarded to Bruce Bowles, Martin Carter, Alan Stevens and Tom Wilson.<\/p>\n
Wilson qualified for life membership by reaching 175 VFL games as a player for the Northern Blues, Northern Bullants and Collingwood<\/p>\n
Bowles, Carter and Stevens were recognised for their outstanding service in long-standing roles at Sandringham, Werribee and Essendon respectively.<\/p>\n
Geelong\u2019s Ian Fuller was presented the Alex Gillon Award and Essendon\u2019s Nick Frederiksen the Ann Rulton Award, which recognise VFL and VFLW volunteers who have provided outstanding service to their club or football in general.<\/p>\n
The 2025 VFL Umpires of the Year were Joel Clamp (field), Harrison Bell (boundary) and James Rizio (goal).<\/p>\n
J.J. LISTON TROPHY (Smithy\u2019s VFL Best and Fairest) LAMBERT-PEARCE MEDAL (rebel VFLW Best and Fairest) SMITHY\u2019S VFL COACHES MVP rebel VFLW COACHES MVP SMITHY\u2019S VFL TEAM OF THE YEAR<\/p>\n rebel VFLW TEAM OF THE YEAR<\/p>\n JIM \u2018FROSTY\u2019 MILLER MEDAL (Smithy\u2019s VFL Leading Goalkicker) ROHENNA YOUNG MEDAL (rebel VFLW Leading Goalkicker) FOTHERGILL-ROUND-MITCHELL MEDAL (Smithy\u2019s VFL Rising Star) DEBBIE LEE MEDAL (rebel VFLW Rising Star) VFL UMPIRES OF THE YEAR ALEX GILLON VFL VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR ANN RULTON VFLW VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR LIFE MEMBERSHIP
Jacob Dawson (Southport Sharks) \u2013 28 votes
Riley Bonner (Casey Demons) \u2013 23 votes
Dom Brew (Werribee) \u2013 21 votes
Deven Robertson (Brisbane Lions) \u2013 20 votes
Henry Hustwaite (Box Hill Hawks) \u2013 18 votes
Brodie McLaughlin (Williamstown) \u2013 17 votes
Jack Bytel (Coburg) \u2013 15 votes
Ted Clohesy (Geelong Cats) \u2013 15 votes
Harvey Hooper (Port Melbourne) \u2013 14 votes
George Stevens (Geelong Cats) \u2013 14 votes
Click here<\/a> for full vote listing<\/p>\n
Ange Gogos (Darebin Falcons) \u2013 25 votes
El Chaston (Essendon) \u2013 21 votes
Maddie Di Cosmo (North Melbourne-Werribee) \u2013 19 votes
Emily Eaves (Williamstown) \u2013 17 votes
Dominique Carbone (Collingwood) \u2013 16 votes
Nyakoat Dojiok (North Melbourne-Werribee) \u2013 15 votes
Tahlia Sanger (Collingwood) \u2013 13 votes
Alyssa Mifsud (Darebin Falcons) \u2013 10 votes
Abby Favell (Geelong Cats) \u2013 10 votes
Click here <\/a>for full vote listing<\/p>\n
Jacob Dawson (Southport Sharks) \u2013 87 votes
Henry Hustwaite (Box Hill Hawks) \u2013 80 votes
Jack Bytel (Coburg) \u2013 75 votes
Zac Foot (Southport Sharks) \u2013 69 votes
Deven Robertson (Brisbane Lions) \u2013 67 votes
Joel Trudgeon (Coburg) \u2013 60 votes
Cooper Craig-Peters (Footscray Bulldogs) \u2013 59 votes
George Stevens (Geelong Cats) \u2013 59 votes
Ned Moyle (Gold Coast Suns) \u2013 57 votes
Riley Bonner (Casey Demons) \u2013 56 votes
Brodie McLaughlin (Williamstown) \u2013 56 votes
Click here <\/a>for full vote listing<\/p>\n
Emily Eaves (Williamstown) \u2013 77 votes
Ange Gogos Darebin Falcons \u2013 77 votes
Maddie Di Cosmo (North Melbourne-Werribee) \u2013 76 votes
El Chaston (Essendon) \u2013 68 votes
Abby Favell (Geelong Cats) \u2013 57 votes
Tahlia Sanger (Collingwood) \u2013 57 votes
Dominique Carbone (Collingwood) \u2013 54 votes
Alana Barba (North Melbourne-Werribee) \u2013 53 votes
Abbey McDonald (Essendon) \u2013 51 votes
Ava Seton (Port Melbourne) \u2013 46 votes
Click here<\/a> for full vote listing<\/p>\n
Brodie McLaughlin (Williamstown) \u2013 67 goals<\/p>\n
Nyakoat Dojoik (North Melbourne-Werribee) \u2013 37 goals<\/p>\n
Winner: Tom Blamires (Frankston)
Other finalists: Fergus McFadyen (Brisbane Lions), Tobyn Murray (Geelong Cats), Massimo Raso (Richmond) and Harry Scott (Richmond)<\/p>\n
Winner: Tahlia Sanger (Collingwood)
Other finalists: Amy Trindade (Carlton), Hayley Peck (Geelong Cats), Nyakoat Dojiok (North Melbourne-Werribee), Abbey Tregellis (Sandringham)<\/p>\n
Joel Clamp (field), Harrison Bell (boundary) and James Rizio (goal)<\/p>\n
Ian Fuller (Geelong Cats)<\/p>\n
Nick Frederiksen (Essendon)<\/p>\n
Tom Wilson (175 games played for Northern Blues, Northern Bullants and Collingwood), Bruce Bowles (Sandringham), Martin Carter (Werribee) and Alan Stevens (Essendon)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lambert-Pearce Medal winner Ange Gogos and J.J. Liston Trophy winner Jacob Dawson the 2025 VFL and VFLW Awards.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145457,"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-145456","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\/145456","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=145456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}