OF ALL the accolades that have come his way – and there have been many it must be said – few compare with the Carlton best and fairest medal that now carries his name.

For the great John Nicholls, generally considered this football club’s greatest player, the renaming of the Robert Reynolds Trophy in his honour after 70 years is, by his and anyone else’s estimation, the ultimate accolade.

John Nicholls’ very personal connection with the Club he so loves now spans 62 years. Following his older brother Don from Maryborough to Princes Park on the eve of the 1957 season, Nicholls’ illustrious playing career would encompass 328 senior games through 18 years in what was a glory era for both player and club.

Nicholls captained Carlton into 188 contests between 1961 and ’74 and was a three-time premiership player in the drought-breaker of 1968, the comeback of ’70 and the shootout of ’72.

Though he stood at just 189cm – that’s 22cms shy of the recently-retired Fremantle follower Aaron Sandilands – Nicholls’ enormous strength and immovable frame more than compensated for an obvious lack of height. The three-time Premiership rover Adrian Gallagher, when asked how he’d best describe his great Carlton contemporary, famously responded with just one word.

“Presence.”

All of Nicholls’ record five club best and fairest awards - 1959, ’63, ’65, ’66 and ’67 - were hard-won at Carlton. That he finished runner-up in the count in 1961, ’62, ’68 and ’69, and third in 1964 and ’71, reflects quantity as much as quality.

Clearly, ‘Big Nick’ owned the best and fairest.

One of 12 inaugural Legends inducted into the Australian and Carlton Football Halls of Fame and a coveted member of both Teams of the Century, John Nicholls will be there on Friday night to award the cherished medal to the latest worthy recipient.

How apt that the first John Nicholls Medallist, the newly-appointed Senior Coach David Teague, will also be there watching on.