Rory Sloane has moved into equal-second place overall in the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year award after four rounds of voting.
Sloane, 27, earned seven votes from coaches Don Pyke and John Worsfold following Adelaide’s 65-point victory over Essendon on Saturday night.
The courageous onballer collected a season-high 34 possessions, laid a match-high nine tackles and won an equal-game high eight clearances in another outstanding performance. Sloane also kicked two goals and had nine hard-ball gets.
He’s now polled in Adelaide’s last three games to draw equal with Richmond’s Dustin Martin on 23 votes overall, just one vote shy of leader Ollie Wines of Port Adelaide.
Forwards Eddie Betts and Taylor Walker were the top vote-getters in Saturday night’s win over the Bombers.
Betts earned nine AFLCA votes after slotting six goals and collecting 22 possessions – career-best numbers during his time as a Crow. The livewire forward also had an equal-match high 10 score involvements alongside Crows captain Walker.
Walker’s five-goal performance attracted eight votes from the coaches and catapulted the key forward into equal-10th place in the overall standings. The 26-year-old also claimed an equal-game high 10 marks and had a round-high four goal assists.
Brodie Smith (three votes) and Rory Laird (two) were the remaining Crows vote-getters.
Laird was the leading ball-winner on the ground 36 disposals. The former rookie also had five rebound 50ms and kicked a goal in another impressive performance.
Fellow defender Smith amassed 33 disposals and kicked a trademark long-range goal for his first AFLCA votes of the season. He also gained 707 metres - ranked third in the AFL for the round.
Essendon speedster Travis Colyer received one vote for his 24-possession and three-goal game.
Three players received perfect scores in Round Four of the AFLCA Player of the Year award. West Coast’s Luke Shuey, Fremantle’s Lachie Neale and Gold Coast co-captain Tom Lynch all polled 10 votes.
Wines, who failed to poll in Port Adelaide’s loss to Greater Western Sydney, remains the award’s outright leader with 24 votes ahead of Sloane, Martin, Eagle Elliot Yeo and Geelong’s Joel Selwood.
Adelaide v Essendon
9 – Eddie Betts (Adel)
8 – Taylor Walker (Adel)
7 – Rory Sloane (Adel)
3 – Brodie Smith (Adel)
2 – Rory Laird (Adel)
1 – Travis Colyer (Ess)
AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Leaderboard
24 – Ollie Wines (Port)
23 – Dustin Martin (Rich)
23 – Rory Sloane (Adel)
21 – Joel Selwood (Geel)
21 – Elliot Yeo (WC)
20 – Clayton Oliver (Melb)
20 – Luke Shuey (WC)
19 – Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)
19 – Marc Murphy (Carl)
18 – Trent Cotchin (Rich)
18 – Zach Merrett (Ess)
18 – Taylor Walker (Adel)
Crows Leaderboard
23 – Rory Sloane
18 – Taylor Walker
12 – Rory Laird
11 – Eddie Betts
10 – Sam Jacobs
7 – Richard Douglas
6 – Charlie Cameron
4 – Rory Atkins
4 – Tom Lynch
3 – Brodie Smith
3 – Matt Crouch
2 – Kyle Hartigan
1 – Josh Jenkins
