Nick Daicos Crowned Coaches' Champion as AFL Hands Out 2026 Honours
Nick Daicos has been named the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year for 2026, headlining a night of awards at the AFL's annual presentation evening on 25 August. The Collingwood star polled the most coach votes across the home-and-away season, recognised by the men who game-plan against him week in, week out. ABC News
Daicos's honour is the latest in a growing collection. He won the AFL Players' Association MVP — the Leigh Matthews Trophy — voted by his fellow players, back in 2025. Now the coaches have had their say, and they reached the same conclusion.
St Kilda's Callum Wilkie claimed the inaugural AFL Coaches Association Defensive Player of the Year award. The AFL introduced the category for the first time in 2026, giving the game's backmen — the players who shut down the league's most dangerous forwards — their own recognition. Wilkie, a reliable key defender, was the first name engraved on it.
Two young players shared the AFL Coaches Association Best Emerging Player award: Max Hall of St Kilda and Murphy Reid of Fremantle. The award goes to a player within two years of his AFL debut — no age limit — who accumulates the most coach votes across the season. Reid, who won the 2025 Telstra AFL Rising Star with 48 votes, continues to collect accolades in his short career.
The 2026 All Australian team was also finalised on the night. A squad of 46 players, named on 23 August, was trimmed to the final 23. Fremantle dominated the initial squad with eight selections, a reflection of the Dockers' strong season. The full squad included names like Jordan Dawson, Max Gawn, Marcus Bontempelli, Luke Jackson, Will Ashcroft, and Wayne Milera. ABC News
The All Australian squad announcement had been pushed back a week from its original schedule, in light of news out of Sydney, before being released on 24 August. The selection panel — chaired by AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, with Eddie Betts, Jude Bolton, Simon Black, Abbey Holmes, and Glen Jakovich — had the job of cutting the squad in half.
Fox Footy's Sarah Jones and three-time All Australian Jack Riewoldt hosted the evening, broadcast live on Fox.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon addressed the room, touching on season attendance and viewership figures. He also spoke about the league's responsibility for safety and respect in the sport — a theme that has carried weight throughout the 2026 season. ABC News
For Daicos, the coaches' award caps a season where he has been the competition's most consistent performer in the eyes of those closest to the game. For Wilkie, it is validation of a defensive body of work that too often goes unheralded. And for Hall and Reid, a shared honour signals that the league's next wave has well and truly arrived.
