THE race continues to heat up in the VFLW Coaches Player of the Year Award, with Geelong star Paige Sheppard being joined on top of the leaderboard by Casey Demons forward Tahlia Fellows and Essendon midfielder Amelia Radford after both produced outstanding games in Round 4 on Saturday.

Radford was voted best on ground by coaches Brendan Major and Penny Cula-Reid for her 26 disposals, six clearances and six tackles in the Bombers’ 52-point win over Williamstown at The Hangar to move to 21 in her past three matches, while Fellows picked up eight votes after gathering 19 touches, six marks, six tackles and three goals as the Demons crushed the Western Bulldogs by a club record 91 points at Casey Fields.

Sheppard maintained her spot on top, polling three votes from one of Andrew Bruce and Dale Robinson after earning 20 possessions, seven clearances and nine tackles in the Cats’ 20-point loss to the Southern Saints at Deakin University, meaning all three players have polled a 10, an eight and a three in the first four rounds.

There were plenty of outstanding performances, with Radford being one of five players to poll the perfect 10 votes in the Round 4 matches.

Casey’s Brenna Tarrant relished a move into the midfield to be the standout player of the round with 32 possessions, 11 clearances, eight inside-50s and five tackles and the Bulldogs, while Hannah Stuart (29 disposals, eight clearances, nine tackles) was judged the top player in the Saints’ first win over Geelong, Aimee Whelan (21 possessions, nine clearances, 11 tackles) claimed top honours in Hawthorn’s upset triumph against Collingwood and Meg Macdonald (26 disposals, eight marks, five clearances) responded to her omission from the Richmond AFLW team by leading Port Melbourne to an ice-breaking defeat of Carlton.

North Melbourne’s Jess Duffin similarly showed her class after being left out of the Kangaroos’ AFLW team, with the 2018 Lambert-Pearce medallist earning nine coaches votes for her 27-disposal, 10-mark, seven-rebound performance in a losing cause against Darebin, while Sarah Ford (Essendon, 8), Angelica Gogos (Darebin, 8), Renee Saulitis (Saints, 7) and Millie Klingbeil (Carlton, 7) also polled strongly.

Similar to the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year, the VFLW award is voted on by the coaches of each club after every game in both competitions.

The coaches are awarding 5-4-3-2-1 to their best players in the game from either team, with those votes collated and revealed each week on vfl.com.au.

Another 15 players attracted the coaches’ attention for the first time in Round 4, making it 123 who have polled votes across the first four rounds.

Twitter: @BRhodesVFL

ROUND 4 VOTES

Geelong v Southern Saints
10 Hannah Stuart (SS)
7 Renee Saulitis (SS)
6 Tamara Smith (Gee)
3 Paige Sheppard (Gee)
2 Renee Caris (Gee)
2 Alana Woodward (SS)

Casey Demons v Western Bulldogs
10 Brenna Tarrant (Cas)
8 Tahlia Fellows (Cas)
5 Melanie Hogg (Cas)
4 Alison Brown (Cas)
2 Eliza Vale (WB)
1 Lucy Schneider (WB) 1

Essendon v Williamstown
10 Amelia Radford (Ess)
8 Sarah Ford (Ess)
3 Cecilia McIntosh (Ess)
3 Ruby Tripodi (Wil)
2 Danielle Marshall (Ess)
2 Simone Nalder (Ess)
1 Gabrielle Biedenweg-Webster (Wil)
1 Jordan Zanchetta (Ess)

Collingwood v Hawthorn
10 Aimee Whelan (Haw)
5 Elisabeth Jackson (Col)
4 Demi Hallett (Col)
4 Nicole Hales (Col)
3 Tamara Luke (Haw)
2 Bridget Deed (Haw)  
1 Jenna Richardson (Haw)
1 Jessie Williams (Haw)

Carlton v Port Melbourne
10 Meg Macdonald (PM)
7 Millie Klingbeil (Car)
4 Olivia Barton (PM)
4 Kaitlyn O’Keefe (PM)
3 Sophie Locke (PM)
1 Lily Goss (Car)
1 Ashlee Thorneycroft (Car)

North Melbourne v Darebin
9 Jess Duffin (NM)
8 Angelica Gogos (Dar)
4 Alyssa Mifsud (Dar)
4 Annabel Scott (NM)
4 Nicole Callinan (Dar)
1 Emma Mackay (Dar)

LEADERBOARD

21 Tahlia Fellows (Cas)
21 Amelia Radford (Ess)
21 Paige Shepherd (Gee)
18 Angelica Gogos (Dar)
18 Aimee Whelan (Haw)
15 Georgia Nanscawen (Ess)
15 Tamara Smith (Gee)
14 Grace Buchan (SS)
14 Caitlin Bunker (Col)
13 Nicole Callinan (Dar)
13 Winnie Laing (SS)
13 Brenna Tarrant (Cas)

ROHENNA YOUNG MEDAL LEADING GOALKICKER

11 Federica Frew (Ess)
9 Renee Tierney (Ess)
8 Jessie Williams (Haw)
7 Cecilia McIntosh (Ess)
6 Mia-Rae Clifford (Ess)
6 Tahlia Fellows (Cas)
5 Kristy Stratton (Haw)
5 Alison Dowler (Cas)
5 Mia Skinner (Gee)
5 Melissa Bragg (Gee)

ROUND 4 RECORDS

(Figures in brackets are the previous record)

·         Southern Saints defeated Geelong for the first time (1-5 overall, 1-3 at Deakin University)

·         20 Geelong's biggest home loss (16)

·         6.3 39 Southern Saints' highest score v Geelong (5.5 35 all venues, 2.5 17 Deakin)

·         Casey Demons defeated Western Bulldogs for the first time (1-3 overall, 1-2 Casey Fields)

·         15.7 97 Casey Demons' highest VFLW score (13.7 85 all venues, 9.11 65 Casey Fields, 4.4 28 v Bulldogs)

·         91 Casey Demons' biggest VFLW win (65 all venues, 53 Casey Fields)

·         1.0 6 Western Bulldogs' lowest score v Casey Demons (4.6 30)

·         Essendon stretched its winning streak over Williamstown to 5 in a row (5-1)

·         10.5 65 Essendon's highest score v Williamstown at The Hangar (6.9 45)

·         52 Essendon's biggest win v Williamstown at The Hangar (30)

·         2.1 13 Williamstown's lowest score at The Hangar (2.3 15)

·         Hawthorn defeated Collingwood at Victoria Park for the first time (1-2)

·         4.2 26 Collingwood's lowest score v Hawthorn at Victoria Park (3.10 28)

·         5.4 34 Hawthorn's highest score v Collingwood (5.2 32 overall, 4.2 26 Victoria Park)

·         5.13 43 Port Melbourne's lowest score v Carlton (7.4 46)

·         1.2 8 North Melbourne's lowest VFLW score (1.6 12, 2.0 12 all venues, 2.1 13 Arden St, 4.6 30 v Darebin)

·         3.6 24 Darebin's lowest score v North Melbourne (6.6 42)

VFLW DEBUTS

Casey Demons: Lucy Wales.
Essendon: Joanne Doonan.
Geelong: Ava McKeegan.
North Melbourne: Tess Craven, Kayleigh Murrihy.
Port Melbourne: Ingrid Houtsma.
Western Bulldogs: Bridie Kinghorn, Stephanie Perret.
Williamstown: Madison Blackburn.

FIRST GOAL

Carlton: Lily Goss (4th game), Jessica Stramandinoli (2nd).
Casey Demons: Brooke Borchard (8th), Eloise O'Connor (3rd).
Collingwood: Nyakoat Dojiok (3rd).
Hawthorn: Bridget Deed (5th).
Port Melbourne: Stella Reid (4th).

In a first for the rebel VFLW, all matches in 2022 will be live streamed free. One VFLW feature match per week can be watched live via afl.com.au and the AFL Live Official App. All remaining games will be streamed live and available on demand via the VFL/W YouTube channel (youtube.com/AFLVictoria).

To access live scores, results, ladder, stats and to link to live streams/replays, download the VFL/W Official App from the Apple or Google Play app stores.