Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury is in a tie for third place in the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year competition after polling nine votes in Sunday’s win over Essendon.
Mick Malthouse and James Hird handed out a combined 30 votes with six Magpies and one Bomber receiving votes.
Pendlebury received a best on ground (five votes) nomination from one head coach while the other senior coach deemed him second best on ground (four votes).
Competition leader Marc Murphy (Carlton) did not feature in the voting in his side’s win against North Melbourne on Friday night leaving Pendlebury nine votes back from top spot.
Dane Swan’s 45-disposal and 10-mark performance received eight total votes (five and three) and is now on 55 total votes having polled in seven matches this year.
Luke Ball (21 disposals and 11 tackles) was acknowledged as the second best player on the ground by one coach (four votes) but did not receive a mention from the other.
Alex Fasolo’s five goals earned votes (three) for the first time in his career while four goals to Andrew Krakouer was also worthy of three votes.
Leon Davis rounded out the Magpie voting with two votes after collecting 26 disposals and six marks.
Essendon’s Patrick Ryder polled one vote for his defensive work on Travis Cloke.
Past winners of the prestigious award include Swan (2010), Gary Ablett Jnr (2007-09), Simon Goodwin and Adam Goodes (joint winners in 2006), Barry Hall (2005) and Warren Tredrea (2004).
Collingwood v Essendon
| Votes | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Scott Pendlebury | Coll |
| 8 | Dane Swan | Coll |
| 4 | Luke Ball | Coll |
| 3 | Alex Fasolo | Coll |
| 3 | Andrew Krakouer | Coll |
| 2 | Leon Davis | Coll |
| 1 | Patrick Ryder | Ess |
Collingwood leader board for the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year (number of matches the player polled)
| Votes | Player |
|---|---|
| 69 | Scott Pendlebury (12) |
| 55 | Dale Thomas (7) |
| 48 | Dane Swan (7) |
| 42 | Travis Cloke (9) |
| 23 | Leon Davis (7) |
| 23 | Luke Ball (6) |
| 18 | Ben Johnson (3) |
| 16 | Chris Dawes (3) |
| 15 | Heath Shaw (4) |
| 14 | Steele Sidebottom (2) |
| 14 | Ben Reid (3) |
| 13 | Jarryd Blair (2) |
| 12 | Sharrod Wellingham (2) |
| 9 | Andrew Krakouer (4) |
| 7 | Harry O'Brien (3) |
| 6 | Chris Tarrant (4) |
| 4 | Dayne Beams (1) |
| 4 | Leigh Brown (1) |
| 3 | Alex Fasolo (1) |
| 2 | Darren Jolly (1) |
| 1 | Simon Buckley (1) |
Leader board for the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year
| Votes | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 79 | Marc Murphy | Carlton |
| 70 | Chris Judd | Carlton |
| 69 | Sam Mitchell | Hawthorn |
| 69 | Scott Pendlebury | Collingwood |
| 66 | Gary Ablett | Gold Coast |
| 66 | Matthew Boyd | Western Bulldogs |
| 63 | Daniel Wells | North Melbourne |
| 60 | Dean Cox | West Coast |
| 58 | Ryan O'Keefe | Sydney |
| 57 | Nathan Fyfe | Fremantle |
