Star trio Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane and Richard Douglas have been nominated by their Crows teammates for the 2013 Be the Influence AFL Players’ Most Valuable Player Award.

The Leigh Matthews Trophy, proudly presented by Be the Influence, remains the only peer-voted award in the AFL industry and recognises qualities such as versatility, ability to perform under pressure, leadership and courage.

Dangerfield has backed up his breakout 2012 season with another sterling year. He remains one of the competition’s most explosive midfielders but has also added a few new strings to his bow; his ability to kick goals and create scoring opportunities for his teammates when moved forward means the Crows always have an extra ace up their sleeve.

Douglas, 26, has had his best season to date, averaging 22 disposals and almost a goal per game. His 33-possession performance against Geelong in Round 17 was crucial in helping Adelaide to its best win of the season.

Sloane has continued to improve, averaging career-high numbers in disposals, marks and clearances in his fifth AFL season.

As part of the AFL Players’ Association awards, Sloane has also been nominated for the Robert Rose Most Courageous Award, presented by Fire Ready Victoria, while midfielder Brad Crouch is in the running for the Best First Year Player, presented by Be the Influence.

Nathan van Berlo will compete with skippers of the 17 other clubs for the ‘Best Captain’ Award.

The MVP voting is a two-stage process; beginning with each player voting for the three teammates he considers to have been the most valuable this season. 

Each club’s votes are then tallied to form a nomination list comprising 54 players across the 18 teams.

Then, in the second round of voting, all AFL players choose from the list of 51 nominees to determine who will be the MVP (they cannot vote for players from their own team in second round).

The 2013 Be the Influence AFL Players’ MVP Award Winners will be announced on Tuesday September 10 at the Peninsula, Docklands.

Coverage of the night will be live on Fox Footy.