C.J. Willing Trophy

The C.J. Willing Trophy, is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Furry Australian Football League (FAFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game. It is the most prestigious award for individual players in the FAFL.

History
The C.J. Willing Trophy was instituted in 1930 after the death of key figure in the foundation of the National Furry Football Commission (NFFC), C.J. Willing. The Award was originally given to the fairest and best player of the National Furry Football Carnival (A precursor to State of Origin football.), The carnival was held every 3 years until 1972 as the NFFC would become the FAFL Commission after the formation of the Furry Australian Football League in 1974 with the first season commencing in 1975. Since 1975, The award has been awarded to the fairest and best player during the FAFL home-and-away season. Effectively making the award a yearly award compared to the tri-yearly award it was previously.

Fairest & Best criteria
To determine the best player, the three field umpires (not the goal umpires or boundary umpires) confer after each home-and-away match and award 3 votes, 2 votes and 1 vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match respectively. On the awards night, the votes from each match are tallied, and the player or players with the highest number of votes is awarded the trophy.

The fairest component of the medal is achieved by making ineligible any player who is suspended by the FAFL Tribunal during the home-and-away season. An ineligible player cannot win, place or be classified in the final C.J. Willing Trophy rankings, regardless of the number of votes he/she has received.

A player remains eligible for the C.J. Willing Trophy under the following circumstances:
 * if he/she is suspended during the finals or the Newman Cup.
 * if he/she serves a suspension in the current season which was earned for an offense committed late in the previous season.
 * he/she receives any sort of club-imposed suspension which is not recognized by the FAFL Tribunal.
 * if he/she is found guilty by the FAFL Tribunal of an offense which attracts only a financial penalty.

Why the Fairest component is more important than the Best component.
A lot of people wonder why the Fairest component is more important than the Best component in the Fairest & Best criteria, Well it's because C.J. Willing was known for giving his best on ground nomination during state games to players who weren't necessarily the best player but the fairest player who was the best on the field.