Each year one player is bestowed with the honour of winning the prestigious NTFL Best and Fairest award, the coveted Nichols medal. Considered to be the ultimate individual award the Nichols medal is named in honour of quite possibly the hardest working and most passionate administrator ever involved with Northern Territory football, the late Joseph Nichols.

Nichols, also known as the ‘Judge’, was involved with 3 clubs: Rovers, Magpies and Vesteys before his appointment as NTFL secretary in 1932, a position he held for 10 years. In 1947/48 he became the inaugural president of the CAFL and he then served as president of the NTFL from 1948 to 1953. Nichols became patron of the CAFL in 1949 and held the unique position of being president of the NTFL and patron of the CAFL at the same time! A life member of CAFL and NTFL, Nichols was also awarded an MBE for services to the community in 1964. 

Joseph W. Nichols is welcomed into the AFLNT Hall of Fame in recognition of the lifetime he dedicated to the game he loved.