The award recognises excellence across three categories - football achievement, personal development and community spirit.
Rawlings started out as a 17-year old draftee, moving to North Melbourne from Tasmania with one year of high school to go. He finished as a 30-year-old father, after 245 games and three best and fairest awards, with a job in the club’s recruiting department waiting for him.
Courage, tenacity and incredible endurance made him one of the toughest players to shake and every week he was set the challenge of stopping the opposition’s star players.
A humble footballer who continually got the job done, his achievements were certainly not underestimated by his teammates who in 2004 saw him take the podium as the club's Syd Baker Medalist.
Throughout his 12 year career he would do this twice more, and leave the game as a triple Best & Fairest winner, as well as having represented his country in the International Rules Series in 2004.
In 2009, due to other player retirements he was forced to move to the backline where his stopping ability was required to shut down excitement machines like Cyril Rioli and Aaron Davey and it is here he would spend much of the remainder of his career.
In 2010, he had well and truly adjusted to this new role and began winning the ball himself, recording a career high possessions of 623 possessions and sharing his third Syd Barker Medal with Brent Harvey.
He was a consummate professional and workhorse on the field and he also employed this same working mentality to his off-field professional development.
During his career he completed a Professional Qualification in Agents Representative Course, a Completed a Business Introduction course, a Certificate III in Fitness and a Level II Next Coaches Course.
In 2009, Rawlings also completed a 12 month work placement in the NMFC recruiting department whereby he would attend TAC Cup games, review vision of games and produce reports on potential draftees.
The following year, Rawlings also completed a 12 month 'Next Coach' program through the AFLCA and AFL SportsReady which saw Brady devote his time talking to industry experts on how he could better develop as a person and coach and has helped him achieve the success post career.
Throughout 2010 and 2011 Rawlings also worked one day a week in the AFL Game Development Department on his day off from training.
Rawlings' passion for teaching also shone through as a volunteered in 2011, with the Vic Metro U/18 team as opposition coach and mentor through their national carnival campaign. This experience has held him in good stead for his new role as a mentor for
North Melbourne new draftees whereby he will train with them for the first three months at the club and then resume his recruiting role from March in 2012.
His ability to inspire his peers on and off the field, and his diligence in developing himself both personally and professionally make Rawlings an excellent candidate for the Madden Medal.
He is a role model for young footballers and leaves the game as a well rounded professional who furthered himself in every area of his life during his time in the game.
Brady will be competing against Barry Hall, Tadhg Kennelly, Craig Bolton, Cameron Ling and Cameron Mooney to win the AFL Players’ Madden Medal which recognises the player who has contributed the most to the game and the broader community.
The award will be voted on by the AFL Players’ Association Executive Board. The Madden Medal will be held on the 1st December 2011 at Studio 3 at Crown Casino in Melbourne.
