Stories
Richmond star Monique Conti has capped off a brilliant 2022 by winning the Season 7 AFLW Players’ Most Valuable Player Award, proudly presented by Snaffle, as voted by her peers.
After finishing third in the Season 6 MVP count earlier this year, Conti edged out previous winner, Jasmine Garner, and Western Bulldogs skipper, Ellie Blackburn, for the coveted trophy.
The former basketballer joins Dustin Martin as the only Richmond players to claim the MVP trophy and, at the age of 22, is the youngest recipient from the AFLW competition.
Conti, who reached 50 AFLW games in the Tigers Qualifying Final match three weeks ago, averaged 21.7 disposals, 12.4 contested possessions, 6.2 tackles and kicked eight goals during the Home and Away season.
Conti was presented with her MVP trophy at a special in-person event in South Melbourne in front of 120 of her peers on Wednesday night.
AFLPA President and previous MVP recipient, Patrick Dangerfield, said Conti was a deserving winner.
“Mon’s the perfect example of a player plying her trade over a long period of time, getting better, and is reaping the benefits,” Dangerfield said.
“She’s a star, who’s skillful, courageous and hunts the footy and her opponent. With her best footy still in front of her, I’m excited to watch the yellow and black number four for years to come.”
Also awarded as part of the celebrations on Wednesday were the Most Courageous, Best Captain and Best First Year Player Awards, proudly presented by Tackle Your Feelings, The Diamond Guys and KPMG respectively.
After an injury-interrupted season earlier in the year, Chelsea Randall has incredibly claimed the Most Courageous Player Award for the fifth time in front of Season 6 winner, Kirsty Lamb, and the perennially tough Kiara Bowers. Randall now joins Paul Kelly as a five-time Most Courageous Player Award winner, the second-most of all-time behind only Glenn Archer who has six.
The awards didn’t stop there for Randall, who also received the Best Captain Award, edging out four-time winner Daisy Pearce and 2021 recipient Ellie Blackburn. She joins Taylor Walker (2016 – 2017) and Mark Ricciuto (2005 – 2006) as Adelaide skippers to win the Best Captain title.
And one of the best stories to emerge from Season 7 got a whole lot better, with mature-aged Richmond recruit, Eilish Sheerin, taking out the Best First Year Player Award, beating freshly crowned Rising Star Jasmine Fleming.
Sydney youngster Alexia Hamilton was also presented the Education and Training Excellence Award, presented by Torrens University Australia, for her commitment to her studies away from the football field.
Consistent with the process to crown the AFL MVP, known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy, the AFLPA’s AFLW members voted to decide the player worthiest of the AFLW Players’ MVP Award (details below).
WINNERS AND TOP POLLING PLAYERS
AFLW Players’ Most Valuable Player, proudly presented by Snaffle
- Monique Conti
- Jasmine Garner
- Ellie Blackburn
- Ebony Marinoff
- Amy McDonald
Most Courageous, proudly presented by Tackle Your Feelings
- Chelsea Randall
- Kirsty Lamb
- Kiara Bowers
- Karen Paxman
- Vaomua Laloifi
Best Captain, proudly presented by The Diamond Guys
- Chelsea Randall
- Daisy Pearce
- Ellie Blackburn
- Breanna Koenen
- Katie Brennan and Meg McDonald
Best First Year Player Award, proudly presented by KPMG
- Eilish Sheerin
- Jasmine Fleming
- Abbey Dowrick
- Rylie Wilcox
- Vikki Wall
MVP Voting Process
MVP voting is a two-stage process, beginning with each player voting for the three teammates they consider to have been the most valuable this season. Each club’s votes are then tallied to form a nomination list, with 54 players across the 18 teams nominated for the award.
In the second round of voting, all players vote for their MVP on a 3, 2, 1 basis from the nominees of the 17 other clubs. The votes are tallied and the player with the highest score wins the honour of MVP. Players cannot vote for their own teammates in stage two of the process.
A similar process is followed for Best First-Year Player and Most Courageous, with every captain automatically nominated for the Best Captain Award.
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