Mark of the Year

Australian Football League award

In Australian rules football, a player can take a mark by catching the ball from a kick, which earns protection from tackles. In the Australian Football League (AFL), the mark subjectively judged the best in each season is named Mark of the Year. The award is almost always given to spectacular marks – those where one player jumps upon another's back to reach the ball. Although there are no formal rules prescribing what a good mark is, some important factors are how high the player leaps, how long he stays in the air, whether his catch is clean, whether he catches the ball with extended arms, and how dramatic his fall is. The competition was inspired by a famous mark taken by Carlton's Alex Jesaulenko in the 1970 VFL grand final. Following Jesaulenko's mark, two football television shows – Channel Seven's World of Sport and The Winners on the ABC – began awarding the title "mark of the year" to the best marks as judged by their panels of football experts. The two shows would often choose different winners. Seven's award was more prestigious because the winning player received a car, but the ABC's edition only bestowed lesser prizes like mugs and bicycles – a disparity bemoaned by several players who only won the latter. the medal awarded to the winner now bears his name. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the award was decided by a panel of football experts on Seven's World of Sport. During the 1980s and 1990s, the winning mark was determined by selected football journalists and experts. In 2001, the AFL itself began operating an official Mark of the Year award in competition with Seven, which became the more prominent award. Certain sources, like the AFL Record Season Guide, only acknowledge these official winners as having taken Marks of the Year. Chris Tarrant's mark in Round 10, 2001, was previously used as the basis of the silhouette for the Mark of the Year logo despite, ironically, being beaten to the honour by Gary Moorcroft's Round 14 mark, considered by many to be one of the best marks of all time.

The competition is open to players in the AFL, Australian rules football's highest league. Winners currently receive a prize of $10,000 and the Alex Jesaulenko Medal. For the majority of the competition's existence, the overall winner has been rewarded with a car, typically the model of whichever auto manufacturer was sponsoring the award at the time. In 1983, 's Ken Hunter won a Holden Commodore SL/X for his mark of the year. The following year's winner, 's Wayne Carroll, scored a Nissan Bluebird TRX for his efforts. 's Michael Mitchell received a Ford Laser in 1990 for his win following a phone in poll that attracted 250,000 callers. Throughout Toyota Australia's sponsorship of the competition in the mid 2000s, players were often granted use of the latest Toyota vehicle (such as the Kluger or Aurion) for 12 months, alongside a $5,000 donation to their grassroots club. Such is the ongoing public association between taking mark of the year and winning "the car", multiple players have believed such a prize was still awarded more than a decade after its cessation.

After each round of the regular AFL season, three "mark of the week" nominations are selected by the AFL. Members of the public are then invited to vote for a weekly winner on the AFL website. Weekly polls can occasionally be subject to vote brigading by supporters of larger clubs, which has led to highly favoured marks being overlooked for the weekly prize by more underwhelming nominations. Under the current sponsorship arrangement with Four'n Twenty, weekly voters go in the draw to win $5,000, a pie warmer and a year's worth of meat pies. After the regular season's end, the title is given to a single mark; at times the eligibility process has extended into the finals series. Howe's manager at the time claimed that his player lost up to $40,000 in endorsements and image rights based on the unexpected loss. The league amended the voting process following the public debate.

+ Table of winnersYearWinnerClubOppositionRd. Venue 2001 14 Docklands Stadium 2002 17 Melbourne Cricket Ground 2003 18 Docklands Stadium 2004 7 Melbourne Cricket Ground 2005 3 Subiaco Oval 2006 5 Stadium Australia 2007 17 Docklands Stadium 2008 18 Melbourne Cricket Ground 2009 22 Docklands Stadium 2010 21 Football Park 2011 9 Docklands Stadium 2012 8 Sydney Cricket Ground 2013 14 Football Park 2014 12 Adelaide Oval 2015 9 Subiaco Oval 2016 18 Docklands Stadium 2017 17 Docklands Stadium 2018 21 Melbourne Cricket Ground 2019 9 Perth Stadium 2020 7 Gabba 2021 8 Melbourne Cricket Ground 2022 16 Perth Stadium 2023 1 Giants Stadium