No one could lay a glove on Gary Ablett this season and the players voted accordingly when it came to deciding the league’s Most Valuable Player.
Every club nominated Ablett as their MVP and only one player came close to trumping him as a club’s popular choice for the Leigh Matthews Trophy; Jarryd Roughead.
Ten Dockers elected to give Roughead three votes, clearly the big Hawk made a big impression, in Round 4 with 21 possessions and four goals in the Hawks win against Fremantle.
The Demons love Ablett’s work the most, 32 out of 42 players awarded him the maximum votes, not surprising given Ablett amassed 38 disposals against Melbourne in Round 7.
Without the ability to vote for Ablett, the most popular choice at Gold Coast was Joel Selwood. He was the leading vote winner for the two and one vote options and the runner-up overall.
In a nod to the quality of the young players in the game of the top 33 ranked players in the Leigh Matthews Trophy count, eight are in the 2013 22under22 team.
Joel Selwood was the clear winner in the most courageous award, presented by Fire Ready Victoria, however runner-up Dan Hannebery was the preferred choice at three clubs.
Unsurprisingly one of those clubs was Hawthorn who would have Hannebery’s mark in the 2012 grand final fresh in their minds.
The Dogs awarded Hannebery 13 votes, but also gave 13 to GWS Captain Callan Ward. Ward left the Bulldogs at the end of 2011, but it seems his former teammates still have a soft spot for him.No other club gave Ward more than four votes.
Geelong – who couldn’t vote for Selwood – also picked Hannebery as its most courageous player. The Cats gave Hannebery 10 votes, with Jack Ziebell and Rory Sloane eight each.
Despite the eligibility of mature-aged players, there was no stopping Jaeger O’Meara in the race to be the best first year player. O’Meara polled 533 of a possible 754 votes and like Ablett, was the most popular choice at every club.
The minimum amount of votes he polled from one club was 25, and 38 out of 41 Richmond players voted him the Best First Year player.
The Gold Coast Suns split their votes between second-placed Ollie Wines and third-placed Brad Crouch.
The top three of the Best First Year Player is consistent with the top three in the Rising Star.
Joel Selwood was the most popular choice as the best captain at 12 clubs, Gary Ablett was the next best with the second most nominations overall and the favorite at his old club Geelong.
Selwood was most popular at the Eagles, where two of his brothers play, with 21 nominations. The next best was Luke Hodge at Greater Western Sydney where he won 15 nominations.
Ablett is now a five-time winner of the Leigh Matthews Trophy, the only other multiple winners are Chris Judd (2006, 2011), Greg Williams (1985, 1994), Wayne Carey (1995, 1998) and Michael Voss (2002, 2003).