Swan received a maximum 10 votes from head coaches Mick Malthouse and Damien Hardwick and now sits two clear of Melbourne’s Brent Moloney. The Magpie star equalled a career best with four goals while racking up 33 possessions.
Dale Thomas was next best from the round four win polling eight votes, four from each coach. The 23-year-old’s season high 11 marks and two goals earned his first votes for the year.
Travis Cloke was the other Magpie to feature in the voting with three to take his season total to six votes from three matches.
Richmond’s Trent Cotchin (six) and Brett Deledio (three) were the only two Tigers to poll in the match.
Past winners of the prestigious award include Dane Swan (2010), Gary Ablett Jnr (2007-09), Simon Goodwin and Adam Goodes (joint winners in 2006), Barry Hall (2005) and Warren Tredrea (2004).
Richmond v Collingwood voting
| Votes | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Dane Swan | Coll |
| 8 | Dale Thomas | Coll |
| 6 | Trent Cotchin | Rich |
| 3 | Brett Deledio | Rich |
| 3 | Travis Cloke | Coll |
Collingwood leader board for the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year (number of matches the player polled)
| Votes | Player |
|---|---|
| 27 | Dane Swan (3) |
| 15 | Chris Dawes (2) |
| 13 | Scott Pendlebury (2) |
| 9 | Jarryd Blair (1) |
| 9 | Heath Shaw (1) |
| 8 | Ben Johnson (2) |
| 8 | Dale Thomas (1) |
| 6 | Travis Cloke (3) |
| 4 | Dayne Beams (1) |
| 1 | Harry O'Brien (1) |
Leader board for the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year
| Votes | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Dane Swan | Collingwood |
| 25 | Brent Moloney | Melbourne |
| 24 | Jobe Watson | Essendon |
| 22 | Dean Cox | West Coast |
| 21 | Matthew Pavlich | Fremantle |
| 19 | Matthew Boyd | Western Bulldogs |
| 19 | Lance Franklin | Hawthorn |
| 17 | Corey Enright | Geelong |
| 17 | Chris Judd | Carlton |
| 17 | Marc Murphy | Carlton |
