Brilliant Richmond midfielder Dustin Martin has maintained his lead in the AFL Coaches Association’s Champion Player of the Year award with another ‘perfect’ performance in Round 15.
Martin was the catalyst for the Tigers’ stirring win against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval last Saturday night.
He finished the match with a team-high 36 disposals, including 10 contested possessions, a team-high eight inside-50s, game-high 11 score involvements, four clearances, four tackles, eight marks, one goal and a team-high 656 metres gained.
Respective coach Damien Hardwick (Richmond) and Ken Hinkley (Port Adelaide) duly delivered Martin the maximum 10 votes out of a possible 10.
That takes his overall tally in the prestigious award to 73 votes – one ahead of Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield on 72, with West Coast’s Elliot Yeo third on 57.
It was the sixth time this season that Martin has polled 10 votes in the prestigious coaches’ award.
Hard-running, determined Richmond midfielder Kane Lambert was rewarded for another top-class effort this season with eight votes.
Lambert had 33 disposals, including 12 contested possessions, an equal team-high six clearances, six inside-50s, nine score involvements, a game-high 10 tackles, game-high 29 pressure acts and 569 metres gained.
Star Tiger key defender Alex Rance picked up three votes after bouncing back superbly from a frustrating first half, where he was closely tagged by Port ‘tall’ Jackson Trengove.
Rance finished with 19 disposals, a team-high nine intercepts, seven rebound-50s, six tackles, a team-high 10 one-percenters and 319 metres gained.
Rebounding Richmond backman Brandon Ellis received two votes following his strong showing – 29 disposals, with seven rebound-50s and eight marks.
Richmond’s other Round 15 vote-getter in the AFLCA award was Dylan Grimes.
The dependable defender was given one vote for his excellent shutdown role on dangerous Power forward Robbie Gray, who he restricted to just 14 touches and one goal, while gathering 13 disposals himself, including 10 contested possessions.
Full voting details for the Round 15 Richmond v Port Adelaide match are . . .
10 – Dustin Martin (Richmond)
8 – Kane Lambert (Richmond)
4 – Chad Wingard (Port Adelaide)
3 – Alex Rance (Richmond)
2 – Brandon Ellis (Richmond)
2 – Patrick Ryder (Port Adelaide)
1 – Dylan Grimes (Richmond)
