| Year | Club | Player | Games | Goals | Votes | Honours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Hawthorn | Ken Judge | 89 (72) | 176 | 3 | Prem: 1983 | |
| 1982 | Fitzroy | Bill Lokan | 87 | 40 | 16 | ||
| 1986 | North Melbourne | Chris Lindsay | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1987 | Western Bulldogs | Darren Davies | 39 (37) | 39 | 3 | ||
| 1988 | Western Bulldogs | Leon Cameron | 256 (172) | 108 | 68 | B&F: 1993 | |
| 1989 | Carlton | Stephen Edgar | 14 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1990 | Carlton | Damian Hampson | 6 (0) | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1991 | Fitzroy | Jeremy Guard | 68 | 17 | 0 | ||
| 1992 | Richmond | Wayne Hernaman | 20 | 9 | 0 | ||
| 1993 | Fitzroy | Chris Johnson | 264 (59) | 172 | 35 | AA: 2002, 2004; Prem: 2001, 2002, 2003 | |
| 1994 | St Kilda | Tony Brown | 108 | 62 | 2 | Magarey: 2001 | |
| 1995 | Fremantle | Ben Edwards | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1996 | Port Adelaide | Bowen Lockwood | 50 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 1997 | Carlton | Kris Massie | 131 (43) | 23 | 4 | ||
| 1998 | Port Adelaide | Josh Carr | 207 (124) | 109 | 32 | Prem: 2004 | |
| 1999 | Collingwood | Danny Roach | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2000 | Adelaide | Laurence Angwin | 4 (0) | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2001 | North Melbourne | David Hale | 237 (129) | 217 | 16 | Prem: 2013, 2014, 2015 | |
| 2002 | Geelong | Andrew Mackie | 280 | 100 | 14 | AA: 2013; AA40: 2008, 2009; Prem: 2007, 2009, 2011 | |
| 2003 | Geelong | Kane Tenace | 59 | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2004 | Hawthorn | Jordan Lewis | 319 (264) | 161 | 71 | AA: 2014; B&F: 2014; AA40: 2015; Prem: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015 | |
| 2005 | Essendon | Paddy Ryder | 281 (170) | 197 | 27 | AA: 2017; B&F: 2017 | |
| 2006 | Geelong | Joel Selwood | 355 | 175 | 214 | AA: 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017; Rising Star: 2007; B&F: 2010, 2013, 2014; AFLCA Young: 2008; AFLPA 1st: 2007; AA40: 2008, 2011, 2012; Prem: 2007, 2009, 2011, 2022 | |
| 2007 | Fremantle | Rhys Palmer | 123 (53) | 95 | 11 | Rising Star: 2008; AFLPA 1st: 2008 | |
| 2008 | Brisbane | Daniel Rich | 275 | 116 | 37 | AA: 2021; Rising Star: 2009; AFLPA 1st: 2009 | |
| 2009 | West Coast | Brad Sheppard | 216 | 19 | 2 | AA: 2020; AA40: 2019 | |
| 2010 | Gold Coast | Josh Caddy | 174 (24) | 164 | 17 | AA40: 2018; Prem: 2017, 2019 | |
| 2011 | GWS | Nick Haynes | 205 | 13 | 14 | AA: 2020; B&F: 2020; AA40: 2019 | |
| 2012 | Port Adelaide | Ollie Wines | 233 | 93 | 120 | AA: 2021; Brownlow: 2021; B&F: 2021 | |
| 2013 | Brisbane | James Aish | 169 (32) | 33 | 4 | ||
| 2014 | GWS | Paul Ahern | 24 (0) | 6 | 1 | ||
| 2015 | NSW Zone | GWS | Jacob Hopper | 132 (114) | 51 | 21 | AA40: 2021 |
| 2016 | Gold Coast | Jack Scrimshaw | 89 (4) | 11 | 1 | ||
| 2017 | St Kilda | Hunter Clark | 87 | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2018 | Western Bulldogs | Bailey Smith | 103 | 44 | 29 | ||
| 2019 | Fremantle | Hayden Young | 63 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 2020 | Gold Coast | Elijah Hollands | 18 (14) | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | Hawthorn | Josh Ward | 35 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 2022 | Hawthorn | Cam Mackenzie | 20 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 2023 | Melbourne | Caleb Windsor | 0 | 0 | 0 |