McClelland Trophy

The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which, since 2023, has been awarded each year to the combined Champion Club across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) home-and-away seasons.

From 1951 to 2022, the Australian Football League (which was known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) awarded the trophy to the best-performing club in the home-and-away season; until 1990, the Trophy was presented to the club with the highest aggregate points across the three grades of competition that were sanctioned by the VFL/AFL - seniors, Reserves, and Under-19s - with senior wins carrying a higher value.

In 1991, the AFL announced that the Under-19s competition would be shut down at the end of the season to be replaced with a separate Under-18s competition in Victoria with clubs unaffiliated with the AFL (now known as the Talent League). From 1991 to 2022, the Trophy was presented to the club that finished the AFL home-and-away season on top of the ladder, thus merging the Trophy with the minor premiership.

In 2023, the AFL announced that the trophy would henceforth be awarded to the team with the highest aggregate points across both the AFL and AFLW competitions, and that $1 million prize money would be awarded to the winning club, with the prize money being shared equally between the club and its AFL and AFLW players.

The Trophy was first awarded in 1951 when it was awarded to Essendon, and the last season it was awarded to the club with the highest aggregate points across the three grades of competition was 1990 when it was awarded to Melbourne (McClelland's original club).

The first season that the Trophy was awarded to the AFL minor premiers was 1991 when it was awarded to the West Coast Eagles, while the last season it was awarded to the AFL minor premiers was 2022 when it was awarded to Geelong.

Teams that win the trophy are given a simplified replica of the middle panel of the perpetual trophy, which features the AFL lettering and a round die-cast of McClelland.

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