VAFA Statement – January 2026
In January 2026, the VAFA appointed an independent investigator to examine allegations regarding inappropriate costumes worn by a number of players from a VAFA club at a private end-of-season function,
The William Buck Premier Coaches MVP will be announced at the VAFA Woodrow Medal and Awards Night at Crown’s River Room on Wednesday night.
Over the next two nights, we will be posting the Rounds 12 and 15 leader board in a bid to allow each member of the VAFA community to see how their favourite player is polling and assess whether they believe they can go on to win the coveted award.
Each week the William Buck Premier coaches send through their votes on a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 basis from their game on the weekend. Votes can be awarded to players from both sides, with the emphasis of the voting aimed at who the coaches believe was the most valuable player on the ground.
With both coaches voting in one match, the most a player can get is 10 votes (2 x 5).
Earlier in the season, the six round leader board was posted, with St Bernard’s Simon Caven (27) leading OT pair Brendan Iezzi (25) and Harry Tinney (24). Have the leaders changed?
After 12 rounds of William Buck Premier football, St Bernard’s star Adam Bentick replaced his teammate at the top of the table, leading all comers on 44 votes.
Bentick’s nearest rivals are OT’s Gabe Hamilton on 41 and Xav’s John Shaw on 40. It’s been a monster six rounds from Hamilton after he sat on just nine votes at the six round mark of the season.
Caven is still in the mix on 35 votes, while reigning Woodrow medallist, Brendan Iezzi, was already on 26 votes before suffering a season-ending knee injury in OT’s Round 8 win against Old Xaverians – a phenomenal effort from a phenomenal player.
Find the top 20 players after Round 12 below and vote for who you think will win on the VAFA.com.au home page:
| 44 | Adam Bentick (StB) |
| 41 | Gabriel Hamilton (OT) |
| 40 | John Shaw (OX) |
| 37 | Alex Boyse (StB) |
| 35 | Simon Caven (StB) |
| 29 | Ross Young (Blues) |
| 28 | Adam Pitt (Blacks) |
| 28 | Antony Forato (DLS) |
| 26 | Brendan Iezzi (OT) |
| 26 | Sam Williams (DLS) |
| 25 | Charlie Richardson (Blacks) |
| 24 | Harry Tinney (OT) |
| 24 | Tom Humphrey (DLS) |
| 24 | Pete Summers (Blues) |
| 22 | Bede Mahon (Blacks) |
| 22 | Cam Howat (OC) |
| 22 | Tom Quinn (Blues) |
| 22 | Matt Handley (OX) |
| 21 | Julian Rowe (OC) |
| 21 | Tom Dean (Beau) |
In January 2026, the VAFA appointed an independent investigator to examine allegations regarding inappropriate costumes worn by a number of players from a VAFA club at a private end-of-season function,
The 2026 Premier C Men’s fixture has dropped, and it promises to be a fascinating season, with plenty of coaching changes, a couple of accomplished teams returning from Premier B,
The 2026 Premier B Men’s fixture has been released, and, as in 2025, this section is shaping up to be one of the tightest and most exciting in the entire
