In a Ballarat Courier poll, top honours couldn't be split between Sebastopol star Tony Lockyer and Redan champion Lachie George when readers were asked who would take out the Henderson Medal as the league's best-and-fairest.

The pair finished with 10 per cent of the votes, edging out Lake Wendouree recruit Nick Rippon (5 per cent) and Sebastopol midfielder Luke Kiel (4.7 per cent).

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Neither Lockyer nor George are strangers to higher accolades.

Lockyer finished second in 2019's Henderson Medal count - falling just one vote short of eventual winner Alik Magin from Sunbury.

Sebastopol's assistant coach was central to his side's fairytale journey to the grand final.

Lockyer was named in the Burra's best in 13 of the 18 games he played and put on a best-on-ground performance in the historic preliminary final win against Melton.

George, meanwhile, arrived at Redan in 2019 after ending a decorated VFL career and took little time settling into his new surroundings.

The dominant midfielder/forward bagged 30 goals on his way to winning the Lions' best-and-fairest.

He also finished fourth in the Henderson Medal count.

We also grilled our readers about who they thought would be the leading goalkicker, with a familiar name bagging the most attention.

In a widely-spread cast of nominations, it was Ballarat assistant coach Andrew Hooper who earned the votes.

Hooper's 41-goal haul saw his snare the goalkicking honours in 2019, alongside Sebastopol's Michael Powell.

With three-time AFL premiership player Josh Gibson locking things up down back for the Swans in 2021, it could free Hooper up to bag a few more majors.

Keep an eye out for more from The Courier in the coming days as we reveal the results from our confidential coaches survey in the lead-up to the season.

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