Melbourne Victory and CommBank Matildas star Alex Chidiac has taken out the Julie Dolan Medal for the second time in her career, after a brilliant 2024-25 campaign in the Ninja A-League.
Chidiac became just the fifth player to win the Julie Dolan Medal twice after claiming the prestigious honour whilst at Victory in 2022-23.
Only Sam Kerr (2016-17, 2017-18), Clare Polkinghorne (2012-13, 2017-18 – shared with Kerr), Michelle Heyman (2009, 2020-21) and Taryn Rockall (2000 and 2004) had won two Julie Dolan Medals before Chidiac’s triumph at the Dolan Warren Awards on Tuesday night.
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The Julie Dolan Medallist is determined every season by a voting process which occurs after each regular-season fixture in a Ninja A-League campaign.
Votes are awarded to players after each game by an individual from three separate panels; the panels contain technical members, former players, media representatives and match officials.
The three panels collate their votes to determine the best three players from each regular-season game. Three votes are awarded to the best afield, two votes to the second best and one vote to the third best.
These votes are then tallied up to award the Julie Dolan Medal at the end of the season.
Chidiac finished the voting count on 26 votes, one ahead of Adelaide United star Erin Healy.
At the Dolan Warren Awards ceremony, Chidiac received the Julie Dolan Medal, as well as a heartwarming hug from Julie Dolan herself, as she accepted the award – something Chidiac was unable to do in 2023 when she won the award for the first time, as she was overseas at the time.
Stood next to Julie Dolan with the medal draped around her neck, Chidiac attempted to process the magnitude of her achievement, as just the fifth two-time Julie Dolan Medallist.
“I think I’m still trying to process it,” Chidiac said.
“Obviously, I’d rather it be a team award after such a strong season with the girls, but it is a true honour. I do put in a lot of work behind the scenes to try and be a consistent player, and I think that’s aomehting I tried to work on over the seasons, making sure I’m as consistent as possible, and that I can be that player for the team, that if things are rough they can look to.
“It’s a massive honour.”
Chidiac also paid tribute to Victory head coach Jeff Hopkins for allowing her to be herself at the club where she’s now won two Julie Dolan Medals.
“It’s Jeff (head coach Jeff Hopkins). It’s the culture of the club, and it’s the players I’m playing with. They push me every single day,” she said.
“Honestly, Jeff has trusted me to be myself, and he’s challenged me in different roles, and definitely this season I played a different role. All credit to him and the club for what they’ve been able to achieve over the season.”
