CHRIS Judd has taken a two-point lead over Gary Ablett in the AFLCA Crown Champion Player of the Year award after polling a maximum 10 votes in Carlton's victory over the Sydney Swans at Docklands on Saturday.

Ablett was among the best for the Cats against Melbourne but only managed to poll eight votes, with teammate Paul Chapman grabbing the maximum 10.

Chapman’s 10 votes moved him into fourth on the leaderboard with 63 points, behind Judd (79), Ablett (77), and Nick Riewoldt (67).

Riewoldt also put on a flawless display in the view of Ross Lyon and Neil Craig, grabbing the maximum 10 votes on offer in Sunday’s twilight match against the Crows.

Farren Ray picked up seven votes in that game while Nick Dal Santo grabbed four and Lenny Hayes and Jason Gram nabbed three each.

Dal Santo is currently fifth on the leaderboard while Hayes is equal sixth with Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown.

Brown came away with eight votes from the Lions’ win over Fremantle at Subiaco on Saturday night, with teammate Daniel Rich, favourite for this year’s NAB AFL Rising Star, taking nine votes from the match.

By taking three votes from Hawthorn’s win over Collingwood on Saturday night, Hawthorn captain Sam Mitchell moved into equal eighth with Dane Swan and Leigh Montagna.

The Hawks got all the votes in that game with Luke Hodge adjudged the best on ground by both Michael Malthouse and Alastair Clarkson. Lance Franklin was adjudged second best by both coaches, taking eight votes, while Jordan Lewis managed five votes, Brad Sewell three and Chance Bateman one.

In the round’s drawn match between North Melbourne and Richmond, Kangaroo skipper Brent Harvey was awarded 10 votes, however the coaches couldn’t agree much beyond that with a wide spread of players collecting votes.

In Friday night’s match between the Bulldogs and Bombers, Mitch Hahn gathered 10 votes for his five-goal performance, while Brian Lake’s brilliant work down back gathered him eight votes.

Last year’s Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney managed three votes as did Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson.

All up it was a good week in the coaches’ votes for club captains with Domenic Cassisi grabbing nine votes in Port Adelaide’s win over West Coast on Sunday. Also grabbing nine votes from that game was Geelong cast-off Jason Davenport.

In the AFL Coaches Association Crown 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 16 VOTES

Essendon v Western Bulldogs
10 Mitch Hahn (WB)
8 Brian Lake (WB)
3 Adam Cooney (WB)
3 Brad Johnson (WB)
2 Tom Williams (WB)
2 Shaun Higgins (WB)
1 Dustin Fletcher (Ess)
1 Michael Hurley (Ess)

Carlton v Sydney Swans
10 Chris Judd (Carl)
7 Kade Simpson (Carl)
7 Ryan O’Keefe (Syd)
4 Brendan Fevola (Carl)
1 Rhyce Shaw (Syd)
1 Jesse White (Syd)

Geelong v Melbourne
10 Paul Chapman (Geel)
8 Gary Ablett (Geel)
5 Joel Selwood (Geel)
4 Matthew Scarlett (Geel)
2 Brent Moloney (Melb)
1 Corey Enright (Geel)

Collingwood v Hawthorn
10 Luke Hodge (Haw)
8 Lance Franklin (Haw)
5 Jordan Lewis (Haw)
3 Sam Mitchell (Haw)
3 Brad Sewell (Haw)
1 Chance Bateman (Haw)

Fremantle v Brisbane Lions
9 Daniel Rich (Bris)
8 Jonathan Brown (Bris)
4 Paul Duffield (Frem)
3 Simon Black (Bris)
2 Mitch Clark (Bris)
2 Paul Hasleby (Frem)
2 Garrick Ibbotson (Frem)

Port Adelaide v West Coast
9 Domenic Cassisi (Port)
9 Jason Davenport (Port)
6 David Rodan (Port)
3 Jacob Surjan (Port)
3 Chris Masten (WCE)

Richmond v North Melbourne
10 Brent Harvey (NM)
5 Richard Tambling (Rich)
4 Will Thursfield (Rich)
4 Chris Newman (Rich)
3 Jordan McMahon (Rich)
2 Leigh Harding (NM)
1 Sam Power (NM)
1 Shane Edwards (Rich)

St Kilda v Adelaide
10 Nick Riewoldt (St K)
7 Farren Ray (St K)
4 Nick Dal Santo (St K)
3 Lenny Hayes (St K)
3 Jason Gram (St K)
2 Ben Rutten (Adel)
1 Adam Schneider (St K)

LEADERBOARD
79 Chris Judd (Carl)
77 Gary Ablett (Geel)
67 Nick Riewoldt (St K)
63 Paul Chapman (Geel)
60 Nick Dal Santo (St K)
58 Jonathan Brown (Bris)
58 Lenny Hayes (St K)
53 Sam Mitchell (Haw)
53 Leigh Montagna (St K)
53 Dane Swan (Coll)

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