Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom has won the Gary Ayres Award for the best player of the 2018 AFL finals series.

Sidebottom finished on 23 votes, ahead of teammate Taylor Adams on 18 and West Coast's Jack Redden on 17.

Sidebottom did not poll in the 2018 Toyota AFL Grand Final, but polled votes in the first three weeks of finals; five in week one, 10 in week two and eight in week three.

The Magpies midfielder continued his outstanding form from the season proper which saw him finish second in the Brownlow Medal behind Hawthorn's Tom Mitchell.

West Coast midfielder and Norm Smith Medallist Luke Shuey polled maximum votes from Saturday's Grand Final after racking up 34 disposals, nine clearances, eight inside 50s and a goal against Collingwood.

Every round, the AFL coaches vote for the best players from their game. The coaches vote for five players, giving them a mark from 1-5. The maximum a player can score is 10 (with five votes from both coaches).

West Coast v Collingwood
10 - Luke Shuey (WCE)
8 - Dom Sheed (WCE)
6 - Taylor Adams (COLL)
4 - Tom Barrass (WCE)
2 - Tom Langdon (COLL)

Gary Ayres Award Leaderboard
23 - Steele Sidebottom (COLL)
18 - Taylor Adams (COLL)
17 - Jack Redden (WCE)
10 - Dylan Grimes (RICH)
10 - Luke Shuey (WCE)
10 - Jack Viney (MELB)
10 - Elliot Yeo (WCE)
9 - Toby Greene (GWS)
9 - Tom McDonald (MELB)
9 - Sam Weideman (MELB)



Vice-captain Steele Sidebottom enjoyed an outstanding finals series.