Star defender Tom Barrass tonight joined the most exclusive club at the West Coast Eagles when he won the John Worsfold Medal as the 2022 Club Champion.

Barrass enjoyed an outstanding season in what was the club’s most challenging campaign and won the award from veteran teammate Shannon Hurn and classy midfielder Tim Kelly.

Polling particularly strongly in the second half of the year Barrass topped the count with 182 votes to win by 33 votes from Hurn (149), Kelly (131), key forward Jack Darling (120) and another defender Liam Duggan (118) in fifth place.

Barrass followed a strong trend of key defenders figuring prominently in the John Worsfold Medal tracing the footsteps of Glen Jakovich (1993, 1994, 1995, 2000), Ashley McIntosh (1998), Darren Glass (2007, 2009, 2011) and Eric Mackenzie (2014).

The rich run of form enjoyed by Barrass was demonstrated after the mid-season bye at round 13 when he earned the maximum 15 votes five times and was just one vote shy of the ceiling in two other games. That meant that he polled more than 50 percent of his votes in those seven games.

He and Hurn both played 19 games during the interrupted season while Kelly played just 17 games, Darling played in 21 and Duggan featured in 20 matches.

It is the second time that Barrass has featured in the top five in the count, following his fourth placing in 2020, while Hurn has finished in the top five seven times and equals his highest finish when he was also runner-up a remarkable 13 seasons ago in 2009. 

Other prized awards were won by forward Oscar Allen (Chris Mainwaring Medal) and Brady Hough (Emerging Talent).

Allen won the Best Clubman mantle without playing a game when a persistent foot injury prevented him from seeing any action. But he continued to have strong input around the group and assisted coaching staff with the development of the forwards.

Hough, picked at selection 31 in last year’s national draft, began the season in defence and was also given a taste of midfield action playing on a wing.

He played 15 games in the season after making his debut in the opening round and looms as an exciting long-term prospect.

Life membership was also presented to former Chairman Michael Smith, long serving senior executives Deane Pieters and Gary Stocks, respected Queen’s Counsel David Grace as well as Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo, who racked up 150 game milestones in 2021.

They were to be presented earlier in the year but the season launch in March, was another casualty of COVID-19.