AFLPA awards: Taylor Walker is AFL captain of 2017, Rory Sloane voted most courageous player
NO longer is it a “sympathy vote” - Crows skipper Taylor Walker is once again the AFL captain of the year by his peers’ call.
NO longer is it a “sympathy vote” - Crows skipper Taylor Walker is once again the AFL captain of the year by his peers’ call.
Walker has retained the title of the AFL’s best on-field leader, a year after the key forward was honoured by his rivals in recognition of holding together the Crows amid the tragedy of coach Phil Walsh’s death in 2015.
This time, the players’ union - the AFLPA - is acknowledging Walker’s work on the field in leading Adelaide to its first AFL minor premiership since 2005.
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Rory Sloane, the Crows midfielder who had craved the Adelaide captaincy in 2015, earned the players’ nod as the game’s most courageous player.
This is seen as a mark of respect for how Sloane has battled this season against heavy tagging - and always taken on the contest as a fair ball player. Sloane’s status in the league was further emphasised by his fourth placing in the AFLPA MVP award.
That award was - as expected - easily won by Richmond midfield maestro and Brownlow Medal favourite Dustin Martin.
Walker’s peers are saluting his message off the field when he led the united Crows and Power in a statement against racism in April.
Walker again paid tribute to Walsh, who made it his mission to have the Crows led by “Tex”.
And he acknowledged his Adelaide team-mates for maintaining Walsh’s legacy for “team first” football that has the Crows on the verge of its first AFL grand final since 1998.
Walker claimed 140 votes as the AFL’s best captain - ranking ahead of Sydney leader Josh Kennedy (125), Geelong captain Joel Selwood (100) and Hawthorn’s hero Jarryd Roughead (87) in his first season back in the league after beating cancer.
Sloane (188 votes) rated ahead of Selwood (133) in the most courageous category.
Martin was the resounding winner of the Leigh Matthews Trophy as the players’ choice as the most valuable player in the AFL premiership season. He polled 1333 votes - almost twice as many as runner-up, Brownlow Medallist and Geelong midfielder Patrick Dangerfield (776 votes).
Port Adelaide midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper almost claimed the AFLPA best first-year player award. He polled 250 votes - 24 fewer than Essendon’s No. 1 draftee Andrew McGrath, who won the AFL Rising Star Award as the league’s rookie of the year.
Hawthorn’s SA draftee, Ryan Burton, ranked second to McGrath and ahead of Powell-Pepper in the Rising Star voting, but the key position Hawk was not eligible for the AFLPA trophy because he is in his second season in AFL company.
Powell-Pepper missed the under-22 Team of the Year that was based on the fans’ vote. This 22-man line-up has Crows defender Jake Lever at centre half-back and All-Australian midfielder Matt Crouch in the first ruck. Power vice-captain Ollie Wines was name on the bench. Walker and Sloane left the Crows’ camp on the Gold Coast early to be in Melbourne for the AFPA awards. The rest of the squad returned last night.
Crows defender Kyle Hartigan dismissed the critics of the Crows’ Gold Coast trip.
“They can say what they like,” Hartigan said.Essendon young gun McGrath — who last week claimed Rising Star honours — was voted as the league’s Best First Year Player in a slim win over emerging Power star Sam Powell-Pepper.
McGrath also earned selection in the AFL Players’ 22Under22 team.
Originally published as AFLPA awards: Taylor Walker is AFL captain of 2017, Rory Sloane voted most courageous player