By Hannah Kennelly
North Melbourne star Jasmine Garner has added another accolade to her glittering AFLW resume, taking out the AFL Players’ Association’s most valuable player award on Tuesday night for a third time.
The 31-year-old was voted by her peers as the competition’s best player and best captain, and now has the most MVPs in AFLW history, surpassing Adelaide great Erin Phillips, who won the award in 2017 and 2019.
North Melbourne superstar Jasmine Garner has added to her already glittering AFLW resume.Credit: Getty Images
Garner is now equal with Western Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli for AFL/W MPV awards won, with only Gary Ablett jnr (five) having won the award on more occasions.
The North Melbourne skipper beat teammate and newly crowned AFLW best and fairest winner Ash Riddell to the MVP, with Riddell and West Coast youngster Ella Roberts finishing second and third, respectively.
It’s been an impressive 48 hours for Garner, who on Monday night earned the captaincy of the All-Australian team for the third time and was selected to the team for a record-equalling eighth time.
However, the league’s prestigious best and fairest award remains elusive for Garner, who missed out again during the W Awards.
The star midfielder heads into this weekend’s grand final averaging 27.4 disposals, 6.5 tackles and just over five clearances per game, and has kicked 20 goals so far this season.
“It is a huge honour to receive the MVP. It’s a really special award,” Garner said.
“This feels as special as the previous years, and I’m really proud to be recognised by the people I play against and with each week as their most valuable player.”
There was a deja vu moment at the W awards on Monday night when Riddell – who clinched an extraordinary record-breaking 45 disposals during round eight – polled zero votes from the umpires.
Ash Riddell had another standout season for the dominant Kangaroos.Credit: AFL Photos
Months earlier at the Brownlow Medal count, St Kilda superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera missed out on three votes during a round 20 game against Melbourne where he propelled his side to the greatest three-quarter time comeback in VFL/AFL history.
Riddell still managed to take home the league’s best-and-fairest award, but did she have a moment to chat to Wanganeen-Milera about being subbed in arguably one of her best games?
“Not, not at all,” Riddell laughed during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s all swings and roundabouts. There were certainly some games I probably didn’t deserve the three and then got it.”
“All the rounds I thought I didn’t poll in, I polled in,” she continued. “Then the rounds I thought I would poll in, I got nothing.
“We’ve probably known from previous years, when Jas Garner’s been the hot favourite and hasn’t polled according to plan, that these sorts of things happen.
Darren Crocker, Garner and the Roos will be aiming to make it back-to-back AFLW flags this Saturday night.Credit: AFL Photos
“It’s a good laugh, we take the mickey out of it. Obviously, we have a grand final on the weekend, that’s the No.1 priority. We take it with a grain of salt and have a laugh.”
Garner, although universally regarded as one of the dominant players in the competition over many seasons, has long been overlooked by the umpires, and the North captain finished equal fifth on Monday night.
“I think she’s an absolute superstar, the best player in the comp,” Riddell said of Garner.
“I know I’m biased, running alongside her every week, but hopefully she’ll get a chance to hold one of these up at some stage because she’s had a stellar career.”
During the count on Monday night, North coach Darren Crocker told Fox Footy he was surprised at some of the voting.
“It’s very close, there’s probably been a couple left out, which I thought we may have got, but we didn’t quite get the votes we thought we were going to, but anyway, that’s vote count,” he said.
Kangaroos star Emma Kearney joked her teammate Riddell needed to be “flashier” to get noticed by the umpires.
“I’ll teach her my ways,” she joked. “I’ll teach you [Riddell] how to run and carry with the ball, and maybe you’ll get noticed a little bit more from the umpires.”
Also on Tuesday night, Fremantle’s Kiara Bowers was voted the most courageous player and Sydney Swans rookie Zippy Fish was named best first-year player, beating young Blue Poppy Scholz and Gold Coast’s Havana Harris to the award.
West Coast’s Jaide Britton was also awarded the education and training excellence award for her work off the field.
The Kangaroos will face the Brisbane Lions in the AFLW grand final at Ikon Park on Saturday night, as North seek to claim their second straight premiership and grow their unbeaten run to 29 games.
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