GWS Giant Josh Kelly and Richmond’s Dustin Martin have done their market values no harm by being named as nominees for the AFL Players’ Association’s Most Valuable Player of the Month for May.
Kelly and Martin have displayed dominant performances in their last four AFL matches, with the pair averaging more than 30 disposals each in the last month of footy.
The duo are joined as nominees list by Alex Rance, Patrick Dangerfield, Michael Hurley and Scott Pendlebury, with last month’s winner, Rory Sloane, overlooked after failing to reach the same heights that saw him take out the title in April.
This is the second installment of the AFLPA’s MVP of the Month, which was created to recognise the individual performances of the game’s most valuable throughout the season.
Each month, players will vote to decide their MVP of the Month, with every winner automatically nominated for the end-of-season AFL Players’ MVP Award (Leigh Matthews Trophy).
AFL Players’ MVP winners Leigh Matthews (1982), Gerard Healy (1988), Tim Watson (1989) and Chris Judd (2006, 2011) are responsible for compiling a list of nominees before the current male players vote to decide the monthly winner.
Those nominees will then be put to all current AFL players for a vote to declare the official AFL Players’ MVP of the Month.
Matthews, the inaugural AFL Players’ MVP winner, believes this concept will create an interesting talking point throughout the season.
“Many players have displayed stellar early season form. It will be intriguing to see which player has most impressed his peers by receiving their top votes for the previous month,” Matthews said.
The six MVP of the Month nominees for May, as determined by the MVP winners, can be viewed below:
Josh Kelly (GWS)
Alex Rance (Richmond)
Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)
Dustin Martin (Richmond)
Michael Hurley (Essendon)
Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)