IN-FORM Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown has leapt into contention for the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year – the only award voted for by the coaches themselves.

Brown’s four goals and his game-defining final quarter against Richmond on Saturday won him nine votes from coaches Michael Voss and Terry Wallace. He has moved into ninth spot on the leaderboard with 25 votes for the season so far.

Fremantle comeback king Paul Hasleby swept the votes in his side’s win at the Gold Coast on Saturday, while Brent Stanton, Mark LeCras, Steve Johnson and Leigh Montagna were also judged best on ground by both coaches, winning a maximum 10 votes.

But coaches didn’t always see eye to eye in round seven. In Sunday’s match at AAMI Stadium, Neil Craig and Rodney Eade were not even close to agreeing on the game’s best players.

Brownlow Medallists Jason Akermanis and Adam Cooney topped the voting with just six votes apiece, while eight players in total were selected – meaning that only two players received votes from both coaches.

Coaches vote each week on a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 basis. Coaches vote only on their own matches, but may vote for players on the opposing team.

Past winners of the prestigious award include Gary Ablett Jr (2007-08), Simon Goodwin and Adam Goodes (joint winners in 2006), Barry Hall (2005) and Warren Tredrea (2004).

ROUND SEVEN VOTING

Essendon v Hawthorn

10 Stanton (Ess)
8 Monfries (Ess)
4 Winderlich (Ess)
4 Lloyd (Ess)
4 Rioli (Haw)

Geelong v Sydney Swans
10 S Johnson (Geel)
5 Corey (Geel)
5 Selwood (Geel)
5 Goodes (Syd)
4 Mooney (Geel)
1 Stokes (Geel)

Richmond v Brisbane Lions
9 Brown (Bris)
9 Black (Bris)
5 Foley (Rich)
3 MacDonald (Bris)
2 Merrett (Bris)
2 Power (Bris)

North Melbourne v Port Adelaide
8 Wells (NM)
5 Power (NM)
4 Harding (NM)
4 Tredrea (PA)
3 Boak (PA)
3 Simpson (NM)
2 Cassisi (PA)
1 Firrito (NM)

Carlton v Fremantle
10 Hasleby (Frem)
8 Sandilands (Frem)
5 Tarrant (Frem)
5 Judd (Carl)
1 Gibbs (Carl)
1 Murphy (Carl)

Adelaide v Western Bulldogs

6 Akermanis (WB)
6 Cooney (WB)
5 Eagleton (WB)
4 Boyd (WB)
3 Murphy (WB)
3 Walker (Adel)
2 Gilbee (WB)
1 Tippett (Adel)

West Coast Eagles v Melbourne

10 LeCras (WCE)
6 Moloney (Melb)
4 Bruce (Melb)
4 Wirrpanda (WCE)
3 Hurn (WCE)
2 N. Jones (Melb)
1 Embley (WCE)

Collingwood v St Kilda
10 Montagna (St K)
6 Hayes (St K)
5 Schneider (st K)
4 Dal Santo (St K)
4 Riewoldt (St K)
1 Gilbert (St K)

LEADERBOARD
43 Gary Ablett (Geel)
38 Nick Dal Santo (St K)
33 Nick Riewoldt (St K)
32 Paul Chapman (Geel)
31 Steve Johnson (Geel)
28 Chris Judd (Carl)
27 Matthew Boyd (WB)
27 Brendon Goddard (St K)
25 Jonathan Brown (Bris)
25 Sam Mitchell (Haw)

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.