AFL Rising Star Winners: Every Rising Star Since 1993

Who are the AFL Rising Star winners? Here is every winner of the award since Nathan Buckley in 1993, from Adam Goodes and Joel Selwood to Nick Daicos and 2026 winner Jagga Smith, plus the votes, records and how the award is decided.

Jagga Smith is the reigning AFL Rising Star. The Carlton midfielder won the 2026 award with 54 votes out of a possible 55 and received the Ron Evans Medal at the AFL Awards on Tuesday 25 August, AFL.com.au reported.

Smith is the 34th winner of an award first presented in 1993, when Nathan Buckley took it out in his only season at the Brisbane Bears. Since then the list of AFL Rising Star winners has grown to include five Brownlow medallists, two Norm Smith medallists, a premiership captain and a dual premiership coach.

The award goes to the best young player in the AFL each season, and for two decades it was known as the NAB AFL Rising Star. Telstra is the current sponsor.

With the 2026 AFL Draft starting at Marvel Stadium on Thursday 19 November, the next wave of Rising Star contenders is only days away from finding out where they will play in 2027.

Here is every AFL Rising Star winner since 1993, with the votes, the clubs that have won it most and the winners who went on to become champions.

AFL Rising Star winners at a glance

First winner: Nathan Buckley (Brisbane Bears), 1993
Latest winner: Jagga Smith (Carlton), 2026, with 54 votes
Total winners: 34 (1993 to 2026), all different players
Most wins by a club: Fremantle, four (2000, 2008, 2020 and 2025)
Highest vote tally: Nick Daicos (Collingwood), 60 votes in 2022
Winners who polled the maximum votes: Jared Rivers (2004), Daniel Rich (2009), Dan Hannebery (2010) and Nick Daicos (2022)
Trophy: the Ron Evans Medal, named after the former AFL Commission chairman, presented since 2007

How the AFL Rising Star works

Each round of the home-and-away season, one young player is nominated for the award. To be eligible, a player must be under 21 on 1 January of that year and have played no more than 10 AFL games before the start of the season, Fox Sports explained. A player who is suspended during the season can still be nominated, but he cannot win.

At the end of the home-and-away season, the All-Australian selection panel votes on the nominees. Each judge gives 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 votes to the five players they rate best. In 2026 the panel had 11 members, chaired by Andrew Dillon, so the maximum possible tally was 55 votes.

Because the size of the panel has changed over the years, vote totals from different seasons are not directly comparable. Voting was not made public in the award’s early years, so the list below shows votes from 1997 onwards, when the AFL’s official honour roll starts recording them.

Every AFL Rising Star winner since 1993

1990s

1993: Nathan Buckley (Brisbane Bears)
1994: Chris Scott (Brisbane Bears)
1995: Nick Holland (Hawthorn)
1996: Ben Cousins (West Coast)
1997: Michael Wilson (Port Adelaide), 27 votes
1998: Byron Pickett (North Melbourne), 30 votes
1999: Adam Goodes (Sydney), 33 votes

2000s

2000: Paul Hasleby (Fremantle), 33 votes
2001: Justin Koschitzke (St Kilda), 31 votes
2002: Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda), 34 votes
2003: Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn), 33 votes
2004: Jared Rivers (Melbourne), 45 votes (maximum)
2005: Brett Deledio (Richmond), 43 votes
2006: Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide), 43 votes
2007: Joel Selwood (Geelong), 44 votes
2008: Rhys Palmer (Fremantle), 44 votes
2009: Daniel Rich (Brisbane Lions), 45 votes (maximum)

2010s

2010: Dan Hannebery (Sydney), 45 votes (maximum)
2011: Dyson Heppell (Essendon), 44 votes
2012: Daniel Talia (Adelaide), 43 votes
2013: Jaeger O’Meara (Gold Coast), 44 votes
2014: Lewis Taylor (Brisbane Lions), 39 votes
2015: Jesse Hogan (Melbourne), 49 votes
2016: Callum Mills (Sydney), 49 votes
2017: Andrew McGrath (Essendon), 51 votes
2018: Jaidyn Stephenson (Collingwood), 52 votes
2019: Sam Walsh (Carlton), 54 votes

2020s

2020: Caleb Serong (Fremantle), 48 votes
2021: Luke Jackson (Melbourne), 51 votes
2022: Nick Daicos (Collingwood), 60 votes (maximum)
2023: Harry Sheezel (North Melbourne), 54 votes
2024: Oliver Dempsey (Geelong), 52 votes
2025: Murphy Reid (Fremantle), 48 votes
2026: Jagga Smith (Carlton), 54 votes

2026 AFL Rising Star: Jagga Smith

Smith polled the maximum five votes from 10 of the 11 judges. The only judge who did not have him first, Laura Kane, gave five votes to his Carlton teammate Harry Dean and four to Smith.

The 20-year-old was taken with pick No.3 in the 2024 AFL Draft after captaining the Oakleigh Chargers, but an ACL injury ruled him out of the 2025 season. He debuted in Opening Round in 2026, averaged 25 disposals and played in all but one of Carlton’s home-and-away games. His nomination came in Round 1, when he had a season-high 32 disposals in the Blues’ four-point win over Richmond.

Smith joined Sam Walsh, the 2019 winner, as Carlton’s only Rising Star winners, and he matched Walsh’s tally of 54 votes. According to Fox Sports, only Daicos has polled more votes in a Rising Star count.

2026 AFL Rising Star top five

1. Jagga Smith (Carlton), 54 votes
2. Harry Dean (Carlton), 39 votes
3. Willem Duursma (West Coast), 29 votes
4. Cooper Trembath (North Melbourne), 28 votes
5. Jobe Shanahan (West Coast), 9 votes

Duursma, who finished third, was the No.1 pick in the 2025 AFL Draft.

Clubs with the most AFL Rising Star winners

Fremantle: 4 (Paul Hasleby 2000, Rhys Palmer 2008, Caleb Serong 2020, Murphy Reid 2025)
Sydney: 3 (Adam Goodes 1999, Dan Hannebery 2010, Callum Mills 2016)
Melbourne: 3 (Jared Rivers 2004, Jesse Hogan 2015, Luke Jackson 2021)
Brisbane Bears: 2 (1993, 1994)
Brisbane Lions: 2 (2009, 2014)
Carlton: 2 (2019, 2026)
Collingwood: 2 (2018, 2022)
Essendon: 2 (2011, 2017)
Geelong: 2 (2007, 2024)
Hawthorn: 2 (1995, 2003)
North Melbourne: 2 (1998, 2023)
Port Adelaide: 2 (1997, 2006)
St Kilda: 2 (2001, 2002)
Adelaide, Gold Coast, Richmond and West Coast: 1 each

Count the Brisbane Bears and Brisbane Lions together and Brisbane also has four winners. The Western Bulldogs and GWS are the only clubs currently playing in the AFL still waiting for their first Rising Star winner.

Fremantle’s four wins have been spread over 25 years, with Reid the latest in 2025. The Dockers’ young gun polled 48 votes that year, AFL.com.au reported.

AFL Rising Star records

Highest tally: Nick Daicos, 60 votes in 2022, the only time a winner has reached 60
Next highest: 54 votes, by Sam Walsh (2019), Harry Sheezel (2023) and Jagga Smith (2026)
Maximum votes: four winners polled every possible vote, Jared Rivers (2004), Daniel Rich (2009), Dan Hannebery (2010) and Nick Daicos (2022)
Back-to-back wins by one club: Brisbane Bears (1993 and 1994) and St Kilda (2001 and 2002)
No player has won the award twice, although several, including George Wardlaw and Nate Caddy, have been nominated in two seasons

AFL Rising Star winners who became champions

Winning the Rising Star does not guarantee a great career, but plenty of winners have gone on to the game’s biggest individual honours.

Five Rising Star winners have also won the Brownlow Medal:

Nathan Buckley: 2003 Brownlow (Collingwood)
Adam Goodes: 2003 and 2006 Brownlows (Sydney), the only dual Brownlow medallist among Rising Star winners
Ben Cousins: 2005 Brownlow (West Coast)
Sam Mitchell: 2012 Brownlow (Hawthorn), awarded retrospectively
Nick Daicos: 2026 Brownlow (Collingwood), with a record 47 votes

Buckley and Goodes won the 2003 Brownlow in the same three-way tie. Two Rising Star winners have also won the Norm Smith Medal: Buckley in Collingwood’s 2002 grand final loss, and Byron Pickett for Port Adelaide in 2004.

Chris Scott, the 1994 winner, went on to play in two premierships with the Brisbane Lions and then coached Geelong to flags in 2011 and 2022, according to the Cats. The 2007 winner, Joel Selwood, played in four Geelong premierships and captained the 2022 side, and in 2022 AFL.com.au noted he had broken Stephen Kernahan’s VFL/AFL record for most games as captain. Selwood was also one of the 11 judges who voted in the 2026 count.

Three Rising Star winners were also No.1 draft picks: Nick Riewoldt (2000 draft), Brett Deledio (2004 draft) and Sam Walsh (2018 draft).

The AFL Rising Star and the 2026 AFL Draft

Every Rising Star starts on draft night. Essendon hold pick No.1 at Marvel Stadium on Thursday 19 November, and the players taken that night could be Rising Star contenders as soon as 2027.

Smith’s win is a reminder that a top pick can still be a Rising Star after a lost first season. Our 2026 AFL Draft guide has the full draft order, the key dates and the prospects to know before the first pick is called.

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