The three best umpires in Australia were announced at a cocktail party to celebrate the season and the 2014 grand final umpires.
AFL umpire’s coach Hayden Kennedy announced that Matt Stevic was the All Australian field umpire for this season. Matt has capped off a season where he umpired 26 games including 4 finals to take is career tally to 252 games. It was Matt’s second All Australian, having received the award in 2012. Matt was selected on the back of an excellent finals series and a very good grand final. He was presented with his All Australian blazer by Wayne Campbell.
Goal umpire, Chris Appleton was announced as the All Australian goal umpire. Chris who debuted in his first grand final umpired 24 games for the season including 4 finals to take his career tally to 182. Chris broke a four peat from fellow grand final umpire, Luke Walker.
In a career spanning 302 AFL games, Mark Thomson capped off a sensational season with his second All Australian award also. Mark umpired 25 games this season including 4 finals. Delighted with his award when he spoke on behalf of the grand final umpires and All Australian winners Mark thanked all of the coaches, fellow umpires and the partners who made the sacrifices week in and week out so the umpires could be the best they could possibly be.
Pictured: 2014 All Australian Umpires. Matt Stevic, Mark Thomson and Chris Appleton