The AFL has announced its selection panel for the 2026 AFL Grand Final.
Adelaide legend, two-time premiership player and two-time Norm Smith Medallist Andrew McLeod will chair the panel.
He will be joined by four-time premiership player from Port Adelaide and Hawthorn Shaun Burgoyne, the former West Coast and Carlton superstar Chris Judd, as well as the three-time premiership captain at Brisbane Michael Voss and Herald Sun sports journalist Lauren Wood.
The group of five will cast three, two, one vote for the best-on-ground during Saturday's Grand Final between Fremantle and Brisbane.
Former Norm Smith Medallist and Geelong three-time premiership player Paul Chapman will present the Norm Smith Medal on stage after the match has ended.
The Norm Smith Medal can't be tied.
In the event of a tie, the players will be compared on the number of three votes given, followed by two votes. If there remains a tie, the votes of chair McLeod will decide who gets the award.
Brisbane star Will Ashcroft has won the past two Norm Smith Medals and is the favourite to claim the award for a third time.
He would join only Richmond and AFL legend Dustin Martin on three Norm Smith Medals.
Fremantle star ruck Luke Jackson looms as the favourite to take out the award for the Dockers.
The medal is not limited to the winning side; the last winner from a losing team was Judd during his days at West Coast in the 2005 Grand Final against Sydney.
Four players in history - Nathan Buckley for Collingwood in 2002, Gary Ablett Snr for Geelong in 1989, Maurice Rioli for Richmond in 1982 and Judd - have won a Norm Smith Medal in a losing side.
