By Anna Harrington

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has declared Shai Bolton a deserving Norm Smith medallist after the gun Docker became the first player in 21 years to win the grand final’s best-on-ground medal in a losing team.

Minutes after suffering a heartbreaking 14.12 (96) to 12.17 (89) defeat to Brisbane, where Fremantle were overrun late, Bolton was as surprised as anyone to hear his name called.

Bolton took the medal off as he left the stage.

A two-time premiership player at Richmond, Bolton (10 votes) won from Dayne Zorko (six), Will Ashcroft (six), Caleb Serong (four), Hayden Young (three) and Charlie Cameron (one).

“He’s probably emulated his whole final series,” Longmuir said.

“He’s been in this position a lot, and I think that experience showed today his not only ability to win the ball, but then make sure it either gets to the outside through his own endeavours or feeding it to others on the outside.

“He’s had a super final series, and today was a big part of that.

“We had a lot of winners on the day. I thought most of our players can hold their heads up high with the way they performed, and clearly Shai was one of them.

“… It’s a credit to him the way he’s performed across the whole final series, and I thought it was well deserved, the medal today.”

Bolton is one of only five players to win the medal in a losing grand final team, after Chris Judd (2005) – who gave the Docker three votes  – Nathan Buckley (2002), Gary Ablett Snr (1989) and Maurice Rioli (1982).

He had 26 disposals, 686 metres gained and nine score involvements.

“To be honest, it’s a bit hard,” Bolton said.

“You don’t really play (for individual honours), you play to win premierships.

“I’m honoured to get the Norm Smith, but I’m gutted for our boys.

“We didn’t get the job done today, but we’ll see them next year.”

Brisbane superstar Will Ashcroft had a case for a third medal in as many grand finals after a final-quarter masterclass.

When Patrick Voss put Fremantle up by 17 points and the “Wharfie Time” rev-up activation sounded around the MCG, it was Ashcroft who put on his Superman cape and delivered one of the great late performances.

Ashcroft recorded 12 disposals and four clearances in the final term, finishing with 31 and nine to help Brisbane hit the front.

“If they were giving the the Norm Smith medal for five minutes of footy at the end of the game, Will would have won it,” coach Chris Fagan said.

“Didn’t he lift? It was incredible to see what he did.

“The will to win … he lifted the team on his shoulders in that last five minutes, and helped us get across the line with his clearance work because that’s where we were getting killed all day.

“He found something, which is a sign of a great player when you can sniff the moment and lift – which is what he did.”

Instead, it is Bolton left with an unwanted memento.