Reigning All Australians Rory Laird and Matt Crouch, and rising star Tom Doedee have been nominated by their peers for the AFL Players Association MVP Award.

Also known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy, the award carries extra prestige given the nature of the nomination and voting process.

Three players from each club are nominated by their teammates before the final vote is opened up to the entire AFL playing body.

Previous winners of the peer-voted award include five-time recipient Gary Ablett Junior, as well as Greg Williams, Wayne Carey, Chris Judd, Michael Voss and Nat Fyfe, who have all collected the award twice.

Laird picked up in 2018 where he left off the previous year, with disposal counts of 42 and 40 in his opening two games.

The rebounding defender has averaged over 32 touches per game this season (ranked fourth in the AFL) with 13 games of 30+ disposals to his name. Laird also ranks No. 1 in the AFL for groundball gets inside defensive 50 (50) and No. 5 for total intercept possessions (132).

Crouch has been just as prolific, with the 2017 Club Champion averaging 32.4 disposals per game (second in the AFL).

He sits just outside the top 10 for contested possessions per game (13) and is leading the league for disposals per minute, with a disposal every 2.9 minutes of game time ahead of Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell (a disposal every 3.0 minutes).


Matt Crouch fires off another handball in the Round 20 win over Port Adelaide

Doedee has been a revelation in Adelaide’s back six since his AFL debut in Round One, playing 20 of a possible 21 games to put himself firmly in contention for the AFL Rising Star Award.

The defender averages 18 disposals per game at just under 81 per cent efficiency and sits in the top 10 in the AFL for intercept possessions (123).

Doedee has also been nominated for the Most Courageous Award, an award received by vice-captain Rory Sloane in 2017. 

The athletic defender has proved this season to have eyes only for the footy, often going back into packs with the flight of the ball.

Doedee’s season was ended last week in a courageous effort, with the 21-year-old suffering a fractured collarbone in a bruising contest with North Melbourne’s Jed Anderson. 

Rookie Lachlan Murphy has been recognised by the playing group with a nomination for Best First Year Player. 

In his maiden year at the top level, the small forward has played 11 games for the Crows, kicking 12 goals including a haul of three in the Round 17 win over Geelong. 

Taylor Walker has been nominated for the Best Captain Award, an award he has won for the past two years.

The winners will be announced at the AFL Players’ MVP Awards on Thursday 30th August in Melbourne.