Bulldogs pair Easton Wood and Jack Macrae have earned the recognition of the coaches after Saturday night’s clash against Port Adelaide, both polling votes in the AFLCA Player of the Year award.
While Wood continues his rich vein of form, proving to be an irresistible intercepting force across half-back, Macrae composited arguably his best four quarters of the year working in an industrious manner through the midfield.
Macrae accumulated a team-high 31 disposals, including 16 contested, as well as nine clearances, eight tackles and six inside 50s.
With the some key outs in the Dogs’ midfield for the Adelaide Oval match, Macrae was challenged to play a central role at the coalface, earning the praise of Senior Coach Luke Beveridge.
“We challenged him to play through the midfield, and that inside mid area, and he was quite outstanding for us,” said Beveridge.
“With Picko (Liam Picken) and Bonti (Marcus Bontempelli) out we needed some boys to go in there and spread the load a bit.”
With the two votes from the round, Easton Wood elevates himself into third place behind skipper Robert Murphy and Liam Picken on the Club’s leaderboard for the award this season.
Meanwhile, Nat Fyfe (80 votes) continues to hold a hefty advantage over his rivals in the AFLCA Award, commanding a 19 vote lead over Swans midfielder Dan Hannebery (61 votes), with St Kilda’s David Armitage (42 votes) sitting alongside GWS’ Dylan Shiel in third place overall.
AFLCA Award Votes: Round 10 - Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs
10 Ollie Wines (PA)
7 Chad Wingard (PA)
5 Jack Macrae (WB)
3 Justin Westhoff (PA)
2 Angus Monfries (PA)
2 Easton Wood (WB)
1 Alipate Carlisle (PA)
Western Bulldogs AFLCA Player of the Year Leaderboard (After Round 10)
22 Robert Murphy
18 Liam Picken
17 Easton Wood
16 Tory Dickson
14 Jake Stringer
12 Marcus Bontempelli
11 Matthew Boyd
10 Will Minson
9 Mitch Wallis
7 Luke Dahlhaus
5 Jack Macrae
AFLCA Player of the Year Leaderboard (After Round 10)
80 - Nat Fyfe (Fremantle)
61 - Dan Hannebery (Sydney Swans)
42 - David Armitage (St Kilda)
42 - Dylan Shiel (GWS)
40 - Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
40 - Matt Priddis (West Coast)
32 - Shane Edwards (Richmond)
31 - Josh Kennedy (West Coast)
31 - Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)
30 - Dayne Beams (Brisbane Lions)
