Promising defender Daniel Talia was the only Crow to earn votes in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year award in Adelaide’s 26-point loss to Collingwood at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.
Talia attracted two votes from Brenton Sanderson and Nathan Buckley for his role in keeping Magpies forward Chris Dawes goalless.
The 20-year-old has been resolute in defence in the past month, claiming the scalps of Dawes, Geelong premiership player James Podsiadly and emerging Sydney star Sam Reid.
Nicknamed ‘Presti’ after Collingwood great Simon Prestigiacomo, Talia said he was pleased with his form after an injury-interrupted first two seasons at West Lakes.
“I’m working with ‘Truck’ (Ben Rutten) closely this year and he’s doing a lot of one-on-one work with me,” Talia said.
“It’s been a big learning year under Truck, ‘Radar’ (Brent Reilly) and the other older guys back there. I’m really enjoying it and Truck has been great to me.
“I’ve still got a few different areas I want to work on. My positioning a few times (tonight could be improved) and I need to get a bit of pace back after that Achilles injury.”
Talia, who has only played 18 AFL games, is eligible for the NAB Rising Star award, but was overlooked in favour of Essendon defender Jake Carlisle this week.
“I just tried to play my role for the team. I didn’t try to do anything special,” Talia said of his game.
“I just tried to beat him (Dawes) one-on-one and stop him from getting easy possessions. I slowly wore him down over the course of the game, and that’s what I try to do every week.”
Despite not polling a vote for only the third time this season, Scott Thompson remains in fourth place on the overall leaderboard after nine rounds.
The votes:
Adelaide vs Collingwood
9 Beams (Coll)
7 Pendlebury (Coll)
7 Sidebottom (Coll)
3 Maxwell (Coll)
2 Talia (Adel)
2 Thomas (Coll)
Previous rounds:
Round 8, Adelaide v Carlton: 10 P Dangerfield (Adel), 8 S Thompson (Adel), 5 R Sloane (Adel), 4 N van Berlo (Adel), 2 S Jacobs (Adel), 1 K Tippett (Adel)
Round 7, Adelaide v Geelong: 10 S Thompson (Adel), 7 Reilly, 4 Walker (Adel), 3 Sloane (Adel), 2 J Selwood (Geel), 2 Tippett (Adel), 1 Jacobs (Adel), 1 Petrenko (Adel)
Round 6, Adelaide v Sydney: 10 Dangerfield (Adel), 7 Jetta (Syd),
5 Walker (Adel), 4 Sloane (Adel), 3 Goodes (Syd), 1 Reilly (Adel).
Round 5, Adelaide v Port Adelaide: 10 Dangerfield (Adel), 7 Taylor Walker (Adel), 4 Rory Sloane (Adel), 4 Justin Westhoff, 2 Jared Petrenko (Adel), 2 Scott Thompson (Adel), 1 Matt Wright (Adel)
Round 4 Adelaide v Western Bulldogs: Sloane 9, van Berlo 8, Tippett 4, Thompson 3, Ward 2, Reilly 2, Scully 1, Power 1.
Round 3 Hawthorn v Adelaide: 8 Gibson (Haw), 5 Lewis (Haw), 4 Stratton (Haw), 4 Whitecross, (Haw), 3 Breust (Haw), 2 Franklin (Haw), 2 Tippett (Adel), 1 Dangerfield (Adel), 1 Guerra (Haw).
Round 2 Adelaide v Western Bulldogs: 9 S. Thompson (Adel), 8 Boyd (WB), 7 Reilly (Adel) , 4 Griffen (WB), 1 Markovic (WB), 1 Walker (Adel).
Round 1 Gold Coast Suns v Adelaide: 10 Thompson (Adel), 8 Ablett (GC), 4 Jacobs (Adel), 4 Tippett (Adel), 3 Sloane (Adel), 1 Walker (Adel)
Overall leaderboard
55 Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
47 Matthew Boyd (WB)
47 Brent Stanton (Ess)
42 Scott Thompson (Adel)
40 Josh Kennedy (Syd)
40 Jobe Watson (Ess)
36 Trent Cotchin (Rich)
35 Ryan Griffen (WB)
33 Brett Deledio (Rich)
32 Lenny Hayes (StK)
