The W.S Crichton Medal - the Essendon Football Club best and fairest - will be held at the Palladium Ballroom tonight. One Essendon player will add his name to a list which includes some of the greatest players this club has ever seen. But just who will that player be? This year's winner is certainly not clear cut - Dustin Fletcher was a standout in 2000 while Mark Mercuri's victory in 1999 was certainly no shock. However it would be fair to say that the winner of this year's W.S Crichton Medal is likely to come from James Hird, Sean Wellman, Matthew Lloyd or Jason Johnson.
Hird was magnificent in the first half of the season but injuries made life tough for him in the second half. He could well open up a sizeable lead early in the count - it will remain to be seen if he can hang on to his lead in the latter stages of the count.
Jason Johnson has had an excellent season and he had a purple patch in the middle of the year. That is when JJ will make his charge up the leaderboard and he is certain to be in the finish when the final vote is counted.
Matthew Lloyd polled 15 votes in the Brownlow Medal to be the club's equal highest vote winner along with Jason Johnson. He kicked 100 goals in a season for the second year running and that is recommendation enough. He will poll in most games and that is a bonus.
Sean Wellman was selected at centre half back in the All Australian side and that is an accurate reflection of the season he had. Wellman was awesome across the half back line and the wing and was undoubtedly one of the club's prime movers. He is a big chance.
A couple of the dark horses could be Blake Caracella and Adam Ramanauskas. Caracella surprised a few when grabbing third place in last year's best and fairest while Ramanauskas didn't miss a game this season and was very consistent. All will be revealed tonight.
The past 10 winners of the W.S Crichton Medal are:
2000: Dustin Fletcher
1999: Mark Mercuri
1998: Damien Hardwick
1997: Sean Denham
1996: James Hird
1995: James Hird
1994: James Hird
1993: Gary O'Donnell
1992: Mark Harvey
1991: Alan Ezard
