Butters seizes AFLCA lead as six players earn perfect 10s in round five
Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters has surged to the top of the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year leaderboard after round five, collecting nine votes in the Power’s loss to St Kilda on Sunday night to move to 34 for the season. Butters is now four votes clear of Nick Daicos, who received six in round five, and Max Gawn, who picked up one.
Marcus Bontempelli, who did not poll this week, sits a further two votes back. Sydney’s Isaac Heeney climbed to fifth after earning the full 10 votes against Gold Coast, backing up the nine he received the previous week. Six players recorded perfect 10s from the weekend’s games: Heeney, Josh Rachele, Lachie Neale, Archie Roberts, Jai Newcombe and Finn Callaghan.
St Kilda’s Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Port’s Butters each tallied nine in their clash. There were other big hauls across the round, with Fremantle pair Luke Jackson and Luke Ryan polling nine apiece against Collingwood. Geelong’s Bailey Smith and Max Holmes also received nine each in the win over West Coast.
Under the AFLCA voting system, the two senior coaches from each game award votes on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, meaning 10 votes is the maximum a player can get in each round. The player with the most votes at the end of the home-and-away season will be named the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year.