Fremantle has admitted the real reason they decided to dump the Ross Glendinning Medal is because they don’t want Glendinning’s name on the prestigious award.

Dockers chief executive Steve Rosich said the club had tried to work on a compromise name with West Coast, even calling it simply the Derby Medal, but the Eagles were not willing to re-name the honour for the best player in a western derby.

Glendinning was the inaugural captain of West Coast and currently works at the Eagles, but was at the Dockers when the medal was introduced in 2001.

“Whilst we acknowledge Ross Glendinning as a great West Australian player and Brownlow medallist, he is the first captain of West Coast and a current and visible employee and brand ambassador of our derby opponents,” Rosich said.

“We acknowledge that Ross was chairman of selectors at our club for a short period from 2000 to 2002.

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“We would like the derby medal name to acknowledge both clubs’ foundations and great players, rather than just one club.”

Rosich said it was still possible for an agreement to be reached for a derby team trophy and medal for the best player to be presented after Sunday’s first western derby at Optus Stadium.

“If we can reach an agreement with West Coast, we could work quickly to arrange for a trophy to be presented to the winning team after the first derby at Optus Stadium on Sunday,” Rosich said.

“We could include the medal component if we can reach a mutual agreement with West Coast to change to a joint name or alternate name of the medal.

“Given the new era at Optus Stadium, our board does not want to present a joint medal if it was to remain as the Ross Glendinning Medal and reserves the right to award our own medal at any time in the future, if an agreement with West Coast cannot be reached on a new name.

“In 2001 we came to an agreement for the naming of the medal for the best player in the Derby and this born out of a new sponsorship agreement with both WA clubs. At that time we were six years into our existence, and we did not have the history or status that our club has today.”