Tabled below is the complete list of players to have won the South Metropolitan Cricket Association’s Jim McKenna Medal since its inception in 1999.

The Jim McKenna Medal is presented to the person adjudged as the fairest and best player in the First Grade competition, with points allocated by umpires on a three-two-one basis.

In all, four Spartans have won the award, with our most recent winner, Chad Forsyth, claiming vicotyr in the 2020/21 season with an outstanding bowling performance.

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At the completion of each First Grade game, the umpires will allocate votes to the three best and fairest players on the ground, with the overall best on ground claiming the full three votes.

During a round-by-round count at the completion of the regular home and away season each March – held at the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club – the player with the most votes (who has not been suspended and is therefore the ‘fairest’) will claim the Jim McKenna Medal.

See below for more information, and of course the complete list of winners, with those from the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club highlighted in red.


Jim McKenna Medal Winners:

SeasonJim McKenna Medal WinnerClub
2020/21Chad ForsythLeeming Spartan
2019/20Andrew Galbraith
Kodie McKrill
CBC
Leeming Spartan
2018/19Andrew Galbraith
Jordan Armstrong
CBC
SJ Blues
2017/18Andrew GalbraithCBC
2016/17Todd GillLeeming Spartan
2015/16David BandyCBC
2014/15Marc DoddsKardinya Lakes
2013/14Rhys MayLeeming Spartan
2012/13Joel CrosswellHilton Palmyra
2011/12Craig RourkePhoenix
2010/11David ThomasonArmadale
2009/10Todd LavenderLeeming Spartan
2008/09Rhys MayCBC
2007/08Allan CheesemanKelmscott
2006/07Brad OldroydEast Fremantle
2005/06Mark AtkinsonLeeming Spartan
2004/05Brad OldroydEast Fremantle
2003/04Darren RourkePhoenix
2002/03Mark ElvidgeKelmscott
2001/02Mark ElvidgeKelmscott
2000/01Craig RourkePhoenix
1999/00Jason McNamaraKelmscott

Last Updated: May 2021


History Of The Award:

More information can be found on the South Metropolitan Cricket Association’s website, the governing body for the competition in which the medal is awarded.

The Jim McKenna Medal was first introduced in the 1999/2000 season and at the time was known simply as the Champion Player Award, before it was renamed to the Jim McKenna Medal in 2003, following the death of Jim McKenna – the first President of this association.

In 2009/10, the points system was changed to suit the more popular three-two-one votes system used in many other best and fairest medal counts in the country.

The award is presented annually at a volunteering host Club – typically the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club who has hosted the last six editions – each March in front of a large crowd, as part of the Association Windup, where it features as the main event of the evening.


Jim McKenna:

Jim McKenna (pictured below) played many years for the Kenwick Cricket Club in the old South Suburban Cricket Association competition, which later became the SMCA. He played games in their first season,1949. His father, Bert McKenna, was the founder of the Kenwick Club and his brother Bob was the foundation secretary.

In the 1960’s Jim became active in the SSCA serving in various positions on the Executive over the following 40 years. He is a Life Member of the Kenwick Cricket Club and the SSCA (now the SMCA). In 1996 Jim was the first President of the newly formed South Metropolitan Cricket Association.

Jim received a Sports Australia Medal for his services to cricket. He was a school teacher and at the time of his retirement was Western Australia’s longest serving teacher. He was a keen traveller and a great lover of classical music.

After a long battle with skin cancer Jim passed away on 10th October 2003, the same day that Matthew Hayden scored his then world record test score of 380 at the WACA. Source: SMCA


Award Facts:

  • The first Spartan to win the award was Mark Atkinson in 2006.
  • In all, four Spartans have won the award, which places us equal first with Kelmscott for the most victories by a Club.
  • The most recent Spartan to win the award is Chad Forsyth in 2021.
  • Currently, no Spartan has won the award more than once, although Rhys May, who won for the Spartans in 2014 had previously won the medal in 2009 whilst playing for another club.
  • Mark Elvidge, the only back-to-back winner of the award, won both whilst playing for Kelmscott, before going on to have a long and proud First Grade career at Leeming Spartan in the years that followed.
  • Marc Dodds, a teammate and good friend of Todd Gill at Kardinya Lakes Cricket Club, won the award in 2015 before joining the Spartans in 2016.

Photos:

Spartan Todd Gill wins the 2017 Jim McKenna Medal, less than a week after he claimed the Read/Waterer Medal for the Club’s champion player.

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