Jack Oatey Medal

The Jack Oatey Medal is awarded to the best player during the SANFL Grand Final. It has been awarded since 1981.^[1] In 2018, Mitch Grigg of Norwood became the first player to win the Jack Oatey Medal on a losing team, after his team were defeated by North Adelaide in the 2018 SANFL Grand Final.^[2]

Jack Oatey Medal

League	South Australian National Football League
Awarded for	The best on ground in the SANFL Grand Final
History
First award	1981
First winner	Russell Ebert
Most wins	Chris Gowans (2)
Most recent	Lachlan Hosie (2023)

Winners

Table key

^	Player was member of losing team

Table of recipients

Year	Recipient	Club	Ref
1981	Russell Ebert	Port Adelaide	[3]
1982	Danny Jenkins	Norwood
1983	Ian Borchard	West Adelaide
1984	Keith Thomas	Norwood
1985	Stephen Kernahan	Glenelg
1986	Tony Hall	Glenelg
1987	Michael Parsons	North Adelaide
1988	Bruce Abernethy	Port Adelaide
1989	Russell Johnston	Port Adelaide
1990	George Fiacchi	Port Adelaide
1991	Darel Hart	North Adelaide
1992	Nathan Buckley	Port Adelaide
1993	Steven Sziller	Woodville-West Torrens
1994	Darryl Wakelin	Port Adelaide
1995	Anthony Darcy	Port Adelaide
1996	David Brown	Port Adelaide
1997	John Cuningham	Norwood
1998	Brett Chalmers	Port Adelaide
1999	Darryl Poole	Port Adelaide
2000	James Gowans	Central District
2001	Rick Macgowan	Central District
2002	Matthew Powell	Sturt
2003	Chris Gowans	Central District
2004	Nathan Steinberner	Central District
2005	Luke McCabe	Central District
2006	Hayden Skipworth	Woodville-West Torrens
2007	Chris Gowans	Central District
2008	Jason MacKenzie	Central District
2009	Trent Goodrem	Central District
2010	Ian Callinan	Central District
2011	Craig Parry	Woodville-West Torrens
2012	Dean Terlich	Norwood
2013	Brett Zorzi	Norwood
2014	Matthew Panos	Norwood
2015	Chris Schmidt	West Adelaide
2016	Jack Stephens	Sturt
2017	Fraser Evans	Sturt
2018	Mitch Grigg^	Norwood	[2]
2019	Matthew Snook	Glenelg	[4]
2020	Jordan Foote	Woodville-West Torrens	[5]
2021	Jack Hayes	Woodville-West Torrens	[6]
2022	Harry Boyd	Norwood	[7][8]
2023	Lachlan Hosie	Glenelg	[9]
2024	Liam McBean	Glenelg

Club totals

Table of clubs' totals

Club	Total	Years
Port Adelaide	10	1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
Central District	9	2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Norwood	8	1982, 1984, 1997, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2022
Woodville-West Torrens	5	1993, 2006, 2011, 2020, 2021
Glenelg	5	1985, 1986, 2019, 2023, 2024
Sturt	3	2002, 2016, 2017
West Adelaide	2	1983, 2015
North Adelaide	2	1987, 1991
South Adelaide	0	—
Adelaide	0	—

Best on ground before award

Before the inception of the Jack Oatey Medal there was no official award for the best on ground in SANFL Grand Finals. However the media would often arrive at a consensus as to who was the best player on the ground.

Year	Best on ground (media consensus)	Club	Ref
1951	Allen Greer (The Mail, The Advertiser)	Port Adelaide	[10][11]
	Peter Marrett (The Mail, The Advertiser)	Port Adelaide	[12][13]
1952	Doug Olds (The Advertiser, The News)	Norwood	[14][15]
1953	Mick Clingly (The Mail, The News)	West Torrens	[16][17]