| Year | Club | Player | Games | Goals | Votes | Honours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Melbourne | Danny Hughes | 135 (124) | 24 | 6 | AA: 1988; B&F: 1985 | |
| 1982 | Western Bulldogs | Peter Walker | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1986 | Hawthorn | Clayton Lamb | 1 (0) | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1987 | Carlton | Peter Bubner | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1988 | Melbourne | Darren Bennett | 74 | 208 | 12 | ||
| 1989 | Richmond | Allister Scott | 19 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 1990 | Essendon | Todd Ridley | 48 (25) | 37 | 5 | ||
| 1991 | Hawthorn | Shane Crawford | 305 | 224 | 159 | AA: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002; Brownlow: 1999; MVP: 1999; B&F: 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003; Prem: 2008 | |
| 1992 | Carlton | Andrew McKay | 244 | 28 | 45 | AA: 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001; B&F: 2003; Prem: 1995 | |
| 1993 | Geelong | David Ugrinic | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1994 | St Kilda | Chris Hemley | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1995 | Fremantle | Brad Rowe | 8 | 7 | 0 | ||
| 1996 | Adelaide | Tom Gilligan | 3 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1997 | West Coast | Callum Chambers | 66 (54) | 41 | 0 | ||
| 1998 | Melbourne | Chris Lamb | 21 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1999 | Western Bulldogs | Robert Murphy | 312 | 183 | 51 | AA: 2011, 2015; AA40: 2008 | |
| 2000 | Brisbane | Ashley McGrath | 214 | 170 | 11 | Prem: 2003 | |
| 2001 | St Kilda | Nick Dal Santo | 322 (260) | 156 | 140 | AA: 2005, 2009, 2011; AA40: 2007, 2010 | |
| 2002 | Fremantle | Byron Schammer | 129 | 38 | 20 | ||
| 2003 | Essendon | Brent Stanton | 255 | 158 | 67 | ||
| 2004 | Melbourne | Matthew Bate | 102 | 98 | 7 | ||
| 2005 | West Coast | Shannon Hurn | 333 | 50 | 29 | AA: 2018, 2019; Prem: 2018 | |
| 2006 | Richmond | Jack Riewoldt | 347 | 787 | 62 | AA: 2010, 2015, 2018; Coleman: 2010, 2012, 2018; B&F: 2010, 2018; AA40: 2012; Prem: 2017, 2019, 2020 | |
| 2007 | West Coast | Brad Ebert | 260 (76) | 140 | 57 | ||
| 2008 | St Kilda | Tom Lynch | 164 (6) | 203 | 17 | AA40: 2016, 2017 | |
| 2009 | Adelaide | Daniel Talia | 200 | 6 | 3 | AA: 2014, 2016; Rising Star: 2012; B&F: 2014; AA40: 2019 | |
| 2010 | Gold Coast | Seb Tape | 40 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2011 | GWS | Taylor Adams | 207 (31) | 77 | 56 | AA: 2020; B&F: 2020 | |
| 2012 | Comp | Gold Coast | Jesse Lonergan | 60 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2013 | Carlton | Patrick Cripps | 187 | 99 | 141 | AA: 2018, 2019, 2022; Brownlow: 2022; MVP: 2019; B&F: 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022; AA40: 2023 | |
| 2014 | Fremantle | Lachie Weller | 136 (47) | 45 | 12 | ||
| 2015 | NSW Zone | GWS | Matthew Kennedy | 98 (19) | 45 | 5 | |
| 2016 | West Coast | Daniel Venables | 21 | 11 | 0 | Prem: 2018 | |
| 2017 | West Coast | Jarrod Brander | 27 (22) | 9 | 0 | ||
| 2018 | Collingwood | Isaac Quaynor | 90 | 3 | 2 | AA40: 2023; Prem: 2023 | |
| 2019 | Hawthorn | Will Day | 54 | 10 | 9 | B&F: 2023 | |
| 2020 | North Melbourne | Tom Powell | 49 | 19 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | Essendon | Ben Hobbs | 38 | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2022 | Western Bulldogs | Jedd Busslinger | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2023 | Melbourne | Koltyn Tholstrup | 0 | 0 | 0 |