FOOTY - PHIL MANASSA MEDAL (Goal of the Year)
Awarded annually to the best goal kicked during the AFL/VFL season| 2015 | Eddie Betts |
Adelaide |
Round 9 goal against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval. Kicked a goal inside out with his left foot from the left hand pocket from 50m out. |
| 2014 | Matt White |
Port Adelaide |
Round 17 goal against Richmond at Etihad Stadium. White gathered the ball at half-back, ran full tilt up the wing with three bounces, burning off a chasing Steven Morris in the process, before unloading from 50m to goal. |
| 2013 | Lance Franklin | Hawthorn | Round 3 goal against Colingwood at the MCG. Received a handball from Ben Stratton in the center square, jumped over a tackled Stratton and went on to kick the goal from 75 meters out. |
| 2012 | Chris Yarran | Carlton | Round 1 goal against Richmond at the MCG. Received a handball from Chris Judd between left wing and half-forward flank. Ran along the boundary past Dustin Martin, Ivan Maric and Steven Morris, breaking tackles from Maric and Morris before slotting the game-changing goal from 40 metres out. |
| 2011 | Hayden Ballantyne | Fremantle | Round 2 goal against Geelong at Patersons Stadium. Ballantyne ran through the centre of the ground before kicking the ball inside 50. He received a follow-up handball from Matthew Pavlich and slotted the goal from 40 metres out in a team-lifting effort. |
| 2010 | Lance Franklin | Hawthorn | Round 13 goal against Essendon at the MCG, where Franklin outsprinted Cale Hooker from the wing to boot truly from around 50m out from near the left boundary line (Franklin is left footed making angle more acute) |
| 2009 | Cyril Rioli | Hawthorn | In the round seven match against Essendon, Rioli managaed to evade numerous defenders to weave his way into a position to handball to teammate Chance Bateman, before receiving the ball back and kicking a goal from 40 metres out. |
| 2008 | Leon Davis | Collingwood | In final home-and-away match, Leon Davis tackled Fremantle's Des Headlend in Fremantle's defensive 50, knocked the ball out of the scruffle, as he picked the ball up he broke a tackle and ran 10 metres before kicking a drop punt from 50 m out on the boundary. Dennis Cometti added "of the season" after Bruce McAvaney said "goal". |
| 2007 | Matthew Lloyd | Essendon | Matthew Lloyd back-heeled the goal through a pack of players from 5 metres out. |
| 2006 | Eddie Betts | Carlton | Smothered Tarkyn Lockyer's handball, gathered the ball and, with two opposition players surrounding him, kicked a freakish banana from the boundary and kicked truly. |
| 2005 | Chris Judd | West Coast Eagles | Burst from a boundary throw in on the half forward flank, spun out of a tackle and kicked truly from about 40 metres out at Subiaco oval. |
| 2004 | Daniel Wells | Kangaroos | Described as "Jackie Chan in mid-air", Wells leapt into the air, grabbed the ball out of the ruck and scissor-kicked in one motion in the goalsquare at Subiaco giving North Melbourne a narrow victory over Fremantle. |
| 2003 | Daniel Kerr | West Coast Eagles | Received the football at half-back, before taking 5 bounces and finishing from 48m out, late in a famous Derby against Fremantle. |
| 2002 | Jason Akermanis | Brisbane Lions | A snap shot from 45m out on his non-preferred left boot, along the boundary line while turning around to the left of the goals against Carlton at the Gabba in round 14. |
| 2001 | Mark Merenda | West Coast Eagles | Paddled the ball from outside 50 along the boundary line towards goal and snapped it through from the pocket, against St. Kilda at the Telstra Dome. |
| 2000 | Kingsley Hunter | Western Bulldogs | Running from the defensive 50 he kept going and laid a handball off to Scott Wynd, received it back at centre wing, lined up from forward 50 and slotted it home (Was awarded on Rex Hunt's Footy Show) |
| 1999 | Ben Cousins | West Coast Eagles | Peter Matera gathered ball in centre square, handballs to Cousins, handball back to Matera and again back to Cousins who kicks the goal from about 35m out. |
| 1998 | Jeff Farmer | Melbourne | Ran the length of the ground, giving off 2 return handballs, to then receive the ball back, evade multiple opposition players and kick a goal from 45 metres out on the boundary line. |
| 1997 | Austinn Jones | St Kilda | Ran hard from defensive 50 and took several bounces along the wing, handballed to Andrew Thompson at forward 50, received the ball back and snapped a spectacular goal in the 1997 AFL Grand Final |
| 1996 | Winston Abraham | Fremantle | Ran onto a loose ball at forward 60, surged past two Swans defenders and took several bounces along the boundary line before slotting the goal from the goalsquare |
| 1995 | Tony Modra | Adelaide | Kicked the ball off the ground 35m from goal and his scrubbed kick rolled to the forward pocket, finishing at the feet of Richmond full back Stuart Wigney. Modra followed up his kick, making up 30m to soccer the ball away from Wigney then gather the loose ball and snap a beautiful goal from 20m out hard on the boundary |
| 1994 | Mick McGuane | Collingwood | In one of the most famous of all time, oft compared to Phil Manassa's famous Grand Final run, McGuane had a total of 7 bounces from the centre square, baulking two tackle attempts before kicking truly from 30m at the MCG against Carlton |
| 1993 | Michael Long | Essendon | Ran and bounced several times for a controversial goal in the 1993 Grand Final. It was apparently touched on the line by Carlton full-back Stephen Silvagni, who to this day claims he touched it before sailing through for a goal. |
| 1992 | Darryl White | Brisbane Bears | Followed up a short kick that didn't travel to the leading forward by kicking a ripper at Carrara from 30m |
| 1991 | Peter Daicos | Collingwood | Baulk & snap from the pocket v Richmond at Victoria Park |
| 1990 | Michael Mitchell | Richmond | Gathered the ball in his own defensive area and set off on a blistering 70-metre run through the centre of the Sydney Cricket Ground, escaping a number of would-be tacklers and taking seven bounces before kicking truly from 35 metres out. |
| 1989 | Gary Ablett, Sr. | Geelong | Dropped a contested mark in the middle of the ground then ran onto the loose ball at full speed, bursting into the forward line and snapping truly from 50m vs Collingwood (MCG) |
| 1988 | Matthew Larkin | North Melbourne | Spun around 3 West Coast players, snapping miraculously from the pocket |
| 1987 | David Murphy | Sydney Swans | After the Swans scored a behind, Murphy took a spectacular mark over an opponents back from a long kick-in, then quickly played on and kicked truly from more than 50m away at an acute angle (from the left-side). |
| 1986 | Phil Krakouer | North Melbourne | Grabbed ball on the boundary line and ran around Frank Dunell before kicking a sensational goal from the boundary with his left foot. |
| 1985 | Andrew Bews | Geelong | A long run at Kardinia Park in which Bews baulked two tackles and bounced three times; 40m out from goal, Bews attempted to touch the ball on the ground, fumbled and overran the ball before changing direction, recovering the ball and eventually slotting the goal from 30m. |
| 1984 | Geoff Raines | Richmond | |
| 1983 | Ken Hunter | Carlton | |
| 1982 | Mick Conlan | Fitzroy | Marked on the wing, ran about 50 metres, baulked 2 tackles before kicking a goal from 60 metres. |
| 1981 | Peter Bosustow | Carlton | Smothered his Geelong opponent's attempted clearing kick 20m around in the right forward pocket at VFL Park, before standing, gathering and snapping a high goal over his right shoulder. |
| 1980 | Michael Turner | Geelong | 3 bounces, 1 baulk from the wing and a shot from 50 |
| 1979 | Leigh Matthews | Hawthorn | Took several detours to avoid North Melbourne opposition to score from the pocket in the first VFL game in Sydney since 1952 |
| 1978 | Phil Baker | North Melbourne | |
| 1977 | Phil Manassa | Collingwood | Manassa kicked a goal on the run from the half back flank in the 1977 Grand Final replay against North Melbourne |
| 1976 | Keith Greig | North Melbourne |
