McCallum, who added a second string to his bow as a crumbing forward in the Cannons' premiership season, won the count by six votes.

Cannons football manager Len Villani said the voting was tight until McCallum's sensational finals series.

"He had a really good first half of the year and polled all his votes then," Villani said.

"He had a bit of trouble with injury midway through the year and then we got him to the finals and he was pretty good and that got him over the line."

McCallum won the award from bottom-age midfielder Taylor Hine and joint third-placegetters onballer Thomas Liberatore and gun forward Serhat Temel.

The award capped a fine season for McCallum, who was an integral part of the Cannons' title-winning team and was named in the TAC Cup team of the year in the backline alongside teammate Jake Carlisle.

"He didn't get a state screening or a draft camp," Villani said.

"He was in the mix for Vic Metro at the start of the year and he just started off real well. As a player, he's hard-nosed and players look up to him."

It was away from the football field where McCallum made his greatest strides. The Cannons coaching staff had a "last chance" talk with the 178-centimetre, 68-kilogram Tullamarine junior about his football discipline and, moreover, life away from the club.

"It's a good story to be honest because we took him in at the start of the year and said unless he smartens up his act he won't be around too much longer," Villani said.

"He put his head down and worked his butt off and it was a really good result for him to win."

"He's always had the talent - it was just a matter of getting a few other things right in his life and he mentioned that in his speech."

Hine, who finished a close second, gave AFL expansion club Gold Coast another reason to include him as one of their 12 permitted 17 year olds.