GEELONG star Gary Ablett has opened a healthy gap between himself and the rest of the pack in the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Award with a 10-vote performance against Port Adelaide.

Gazza was close to his best with 36 possessions and two goals at Skilled Stadium in the Cats 34-point victory over the Power.

Notably his tally of 21 kicks was a season high for Ablett. And it signaled a change of focus for the Cats as they tried to counter opponents' plans to force Ablett to handball most of the time.

The Supercat is at his best breaking lines and using his precise kicking skills and it was those attributes that earned him to votes from Mark Williams and Mark Thompson on Sunday.

Second-placed Chris Judd failed to poll in the Blues loss to Essendon on Friday night with his direct opponent Andrew Welsh getting the maximum 10 votes.

Alan Didak continued his recent surge with another nine votes for Collingwood against Fremantle on Saturday afternoon. The Crows shared their votes around in their come-from-behind win over the Swans at AAMI Stadium. Bernie Vince and Nathan van Berlo polled the most with seven votes.

Rolls Royce midfielder Simon Black pipped his skipper Jonathan Brown for the maximum votes in Brisbane Lions easy win over Melbourne at the Gabba. Black has been in sensational form in recent times but still can't break into the top 10 of this prestigious award.

Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell is on the leaderboard and making a move after polling nine votes in the Hawks' loss to West Coast in Perth. Mitchell was outstanding with 40 possessions but couldn't lift his side over the line.

Brendon Goddard got the maximum for his stunning game against Richmond which relegated a couple of his highly-placed teammates to the lower votes.

In the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year, 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 Ablett (2007-08), Simon Goodwin and Adam Goodes (joint winners in 2006), Barry Hall (2005) and Warren Tredrea (2004).


ROUND 13 VOTING

Essendon v Carlton
10 Welsh (Ess)
7 Pears (Ess)
5 Monfries (Ess)
4 Davey (Ess)
2 Prismall (Ess)
1 Skipworth (Ess)
1 Ryder (Ess)

Collingwood v Fremantle
9 Didak (Coll)
7 Swan (Coll)
7 Sandilands (Frem)
3 O’Bree (Coll)
2 O’Brien (Coll)
2 Duffield (Frem)

Adelaide v Sydney
7 Vince (Adel)
7 van Berlo (Adel)
6 Porplyzia (Adel)
5 Mattner (Syd)
2 Shaw (Syd)
2 Moran (Adel)
1 O’Keefe (Syd)

Brisbane v Melbourne
10 Black (Bris)
7 Brown (Bris)
7 Clark (Bris)
4 Power (Bris)
2 Rich (Bris)

West Coast v Hawthorn
9 Mitchell (Haw)
5 Hurn (WCE)
4 Wirrpanda (WCE)
4 Lynch (WCE)
3 Le Cras (WCE)
3 Priddis (WCE)
2 Roughead (Haw)

Geelong v Port Adelaide
10 Ablett (Geel)
7 Chapman (Geel)
5 Byrnes (Geel)
4 Scarlett (Geel)
3 Rodan (Port)
1 Bartel (Geel)

North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs
7 Hargrave (WB)
5 Welsh (WB)
4 Giansiracusa (WB)
4 Eagleton (WB)
4 Swallow (NM)
3 Harvey (NM)
2 Firrito (NM)
1 Lake (WB)

St Kilda v Richmond
10 Goddard (St K)
8 Gram (St K)
5 Koschitzke (St K)
3 Dal Santo (St K)
2 Tuck (Rich)
1 Hayes (St K)
1 Jones (St K)


LEADERBOARD
69 Gary Ablett (Geel)
55 Chris Judd (Carl)
54 Nick Riewoldt (St K)
53 Lenny Hayes (St K)
52 Steve Johnson (Geel)
48 Sam Mitchell (Haw)
47 Paul Chapman    (Geel)
47 Nick Dal Santo (St K)
44 Leigh Montagna (St K)
43 Jonathan Brown (Bris)

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