Zac O’Brien capped off his first season in the AFL system by being the Brisbane Lions Reserves’ leading vote-getter in the inaugural NEAFL MVP award, held at Daltone House in Sydney on Sunday night.

O’Brien finished just shy of the award’s top 20 with a Club-high 31 votes – 10 more than Rohan Bewick, who was the next best Lion with 21 votes.

It was a terrific effort from O’Brien, who not only missed five games due to senior AFL commitments, but was also part of a Lions side that won just six games for the season.

Bewick’s return was also remarkable, particularly given he spent more than three quarters of the season in the seniors, and played only a handful of NEAFL matches.

But the NEAFL MVP spoils went to Aspley’s Matthew Payne, who beat out Ainslie on-baller Aaron Vandenberg, Redland young gun Blake Grewar, and fast-finishing NT Thunder skipper Cameron Illett, to make history in the first year the NEAFL has had a standalone Best and Fairest gong.

For the first three years of its split conference existence the NEAFL has presented separate end-of-season best and fairest awards: the Grogan Medal given to the North's premier player, with the Mulrooney the prize gong for the Eastern Conference.

But with a single 14-team competition introduced in 2014, the Grogan and Mulrooney Medals made way for the combined NEAFL MVP award.

Uniquely, the award was decided by both umpires’ and coach's votes, submitted post-game on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.

Nick Hayes (20 votes), Jordan Lisle (18), and draftee Tom Cutler (16) were other Lions to poll well on the night.

2014 NEAFL MVP VOTES (LIONS)
31 – Zac O’Brien
21 – Rohan Bewick
20 – Nick Hayes
18 – Jordan Lisle
16 – Tom Cutler
15 – Jackson Paine
14 – Andrew Raines
14 – Nick Robertson
11 – Marco Paparone
10 – James Polkinghorne
9 – Sam Michael
7 – Stefan Martin
7 – Daniel McStay
6 – Ryan Lester
6 – Matthew Leuenberger
3 – Darcy Cameron-Reeves
3 – Ryan Harwood
2 – Hayden Bertoli-Simmonds
2 – Jordon Bourke
2 – Jack Crisp
2 – Archie Smith
1 – Claye Beams
1 – Isaac Conway
1 – Ash McGrath

2014 NEAFL MVP VOTES (OVERALL)
102 – Matthew Payne (Aspley)
77 – Aaron Vandenberg (Ainslie)
58 – Blake Grewar (Redland)
54 – Cameron Illet (NT Thunder)
53 – Mark Whiley (UWS Giants)
48 – Matthew O’Dwyer (Sydney University)
48 – Daniel Robinson (Sydney Swans)
46 – Jason Burge (Southport)
46 – Austin Lucy (Aspley)
46 – Nick Salter (Ainslie)
42 – Phil Carse (Redland)
41 – Alwyn Davey (NT Thunder)
41 – Ashley Harris (Ainslie)
37 – Timothy Barton (Sydney University)
36 – Tom Mitchell (Sydney Swans)
35 – Ryan Brabazon (Sydney University)
33 – Kade Klemke (Queanbeyan)
33 – Ryan Matthews (Aspley)
32 – Jacob Derickx (Sydney University)
32 – Kallen Geary (Southport)
32 – Tim Membrey (Sydney Swans)
31 – James Bennett (Belconnen)
31 – Christopher Jansen (Belconnen)
31 – Zac O’Brien (Brisbane Lions)
31 – Trent Stubbs (Sydney Hills)
30 – Ian Lawless (Ainslie)
29 – Matthew Dick (Sydney Swans)
29 – Paul Hunter (Redland)
28 – Jarrod Atkinson (Queanbeyan)
28 – Shane Biggs (Sydney Swans)