Adelaide featured prominently in AFL Media’s 2017 Fan Awards released by the League on Thursday.
More than 240,000 votes were cast in the inaugural Fan Awards, with several going down to the wire.
It’s hard not to be excited by three-time All Australian Eddie Betts, who was voted the AFL’s Footy Personality of the Year.
Something magical always seems to happen whenever the livewire goalkicker has the Sherrin in hand. Betts is rightly among a rare breed of players who fans of any club adore regardless of their club allegiances.
Crows coach Don Pyke was Adelaide’s other award winner.
The second-year senior coach edged out Richmond’s Damien Hardwick for the title after steering Adelaide to its first minor premiership in more than a decade.
Mitch McGovern’s miracle mark to salvage a draw against Collingwood in Round 19 was voted the fourth-best footy moment of the season. The game itself was voted the second-best match of the year behind only Sydney’s last-gasp victory over Essendon in Round 14.
All Australian Matt Crouch was among the chasing pack in the Breakout Player category, while Betts, Rory Laird, Rory Sloane and Sam Jacobs polled strongly as leading players of their respective positions.
FULL 2017 AFL FAN AWARD WINNERS
The Footy Personality of the Year award is the people's champion - the superstar showman who brings the crowd to its feet. And in 2017, there was no greater entertainer than Eddie Betts. Nominated three times this season for the Coates Hire AFL Goal of the Year, Betts has also played a critical role in the Crows' rise to the minor premiership, contributing 49 goals as a small forward.
How you voted
Eddie Betts 39 per cent
Dustin Martin 32 per cent
Patrick Dangerfield 23 per cent
Marcus Bontempelli 6 per cent
It happened like this: Ryder brilliantly tapped the ball from a boundary throw-in over his shoulder into the path of Gray, who sprinted just inside 50. With seven seconds on the clock, Gray kicked the match-winning goal over St Kilda. The year's best moment was a narrow winner over Jarryd Roughead's round one return from his long layoff for cancer treatment.
How you voted
Paddy Ryder and Robbie Gray combine to break Saint hearts 26 per cent
Roughead returns 25 per cent
Rohan on the siren 18 per cent
Mitch McGovern's miracle 15 per cent
Mundy's match-winner 8 per cent
Howe heads for the clouds 8 per cent
Competition was fierce for the title of the rising young gun who made the leap to join footy's elite. Josh Kelly's form has made him the target of frenzied trade interest, and he took out the award by barely 200 votes. Runner-up Joe Daniher went close to a Coleman Medal, chalking up 62 goals to help haul the Bombers into the finals and finishing just seven goals behind Coleman winner Lance Franklin.
How you voted
Josh Kelly 23 per cent
Joe Daniher 23 per cent
Tom Mitchell 22 per cent
Clayton Oliver 14 per cent
Matt Crouch 13 per cent
Elliot Yeo 5 per cent
Lance Franklin can consider himself unlucky here, choosing round 23 to unleash a devastating 10-goal game against the hapless Blues, days after the nominations closed for this category. Still, Dangerfield's freak display against the Hawks would have taken some toppling. A foot injury looked to have ended the Cats champion's day at quarter-time. But after gingerly limping deep forward after the first break he went berserk in the second and third quarters, kicking 5.4 and ending the day with 5.6. He took nine marks, had 13 disposals and two score assists in that time in an unforgettable performance.
How you voted
Patrick Dangerfield v Hawthorn 33 per cent
Dustin Martin v Carlton 20 per cent
Michael Walters v St Kilda 16 per cent
Dayne Zorko v Geelong 14 per cent
Lance Franklin v Brisbane Lions 9 per cent
Robbie Gray v Fremantle 8 per cent
Rance's selection as captain of the 2017 Virgin Australia AFL All Australian team raised eyebrows, but few fans will have been surprised. Over a third of voters judged the Tiger the season's best defender. His unbreachable form at full-back earned him a fourth straight All Australian guernsey, and has done nothing to dent his growing reputation as the finest defender of his generation.
How you voted
Alex Rance 35 per cent
Sam Docherty 22 per cent
Michael Hurley 18 per cent
Michael Hibberd 11 per cent
Rory Laird 11 per cent
Phil Davis 3 per cent
No surprises here. Fans agreed with the bookies in crowning overwhelming Brownlow favourite Dustin Martin the season's best midfielder. Beaten contenders Patrick Dangerfield, Zach Merrett, Tom Mitchell and Dayne Zorko were all named All Australians, with only Crow Rory Sloane missing out.
How you voted
Dustin Martin 35 per cent
Patrick Dangerfield 28 per cent
Zach Merrett 11 per cent
Tom Mitchell 12 per cent
Rory Sloane 9 per cent
Dayne Zorko 5 per cent
Any doubts that Paddy Ryder could return to his best after a season-long suspension were quickly buried this year. His ability to give his Port Adelaide midfielders first use earned him the ruck spot in the All Australian team and fans agreed, naming Ryder the year's standout ruckman ahead of Carlton's Matt Kreuzer.
How you voted
Paddy Ryder 35 per cent
Matthew Kreuzer 23 per cent
Sam Jacobs 19 per cent
Brodie Grundy 9 per cent
Ben McEvoy 8 per cent
Shane Mumford 6 per cent
Lance Franklin's storming 10-goal finish earned him a fourth Coleman Medal, but it was Josh Kennedy who took the choccies as the fans' best forward following a rollercoaster season. After Kennedy missed five matches through injury, columnists not a million miles from AFL.com.au said his Coleman Medal chances were over. And so it proved, but not before a storming finish in which Kennedy briefly looked Coleman-bound after 27 goals in five matches.
How you voted
Josh Kennedy 37 per cent
Joe Daniher 20 per cent
Lance Franklin 19 per cent
Eddie Betts 12 per cent
Ben Brown 7 per cent
Robbie Gray 5 per cent
In a season crammed with barnstorming comebacks and nail-gnawing finishes, this was one of the toughest awards for fans to judge. Beaten into second place was a drawn match featuring a 50-point turnaround, an incredible mark and an after-the-siren goal. Hey, welcome to 2017. In the match you judged the year's best, the Bombers led by 17 points at the 24-minute mark of the last term, before their ghosts returned and Gary Rohan delivered the home side an incredible win.
How you voted
Sydney Swans v Essendon 30 per cent
Collingwood v Adelaide 23 per cent
Geelong v Hawthorn 19 per cent
GWS v Richmond 13 per cent
Sydney v Hawthorn 12 per cent
West Coast v GWS 3 per cent
Cool, calm and collected, Crows coach Don Pyke is a deserving winner of the Coach of the Year title. Pyke led Adelaide to the Club's second minor premiership in Club history and the first since 2005. He's overseen the development of several emerging stars to put his side in a strong position heading into his second successive finals campaign as senior coach. Just over 400 votes separated Pyke from second-placed Damien Hardwick of Richmond.
How you voted
Don Pyke 28 per cent
Damien Hardwick 27 per cent
John Longmire 21 per cent
John Worsfold 15 per cent
Chris Scott 5 per cent
Leon Cameron 4 per cent
