Midfield trio Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore and Tim English have been put forward as the Club’s nominees for the AFLPA Most Valuable Player award.
The MVP Award – the Leigh Matthews Trophy – is a player-voted honour which acknowledges the players’ player for the season.
It marks an eighth consecutive nomination for Bontempelli, who previously claimed the trophy in 2021, and third-straight nomination for Liberatore.
The skipper has enjoyed a prolific 2023 campaign, averaging 27.7 disposals, 7.5 tackles, 5.7 inside 50s and 7.6 clearances, while Liberatore turned back the clock to average 27.3 disposals, 14.7 handballs, 6.7 tackles and eight clearances.
English continued his rise as one of the competition’s premier rucks, averaging 19.1 disposals, 31.2 hit-outs (10.5 to advantage) and 6.3 marks in 2023.
Bontempelli also automatically qualifies for the Best Captain award, while Liberatore has been nominated for the Most Courageous Player.
James O’Donnell is in the running for Best First Year Player.
All award-winners will be announced on Wednesday night, as part of Fox Footy’s 2023 AFL Awards coverage which kicks off from 7pm AEST.
MVP voting is a two-stage process, beginning with each player voting for the three teammates they consider to have been the most valuable this season. Each club’s votes are then tallied to form a nomination list comprising 54 players across the 18 teams.
In the second round of voting, all players vote for their MVP on a 3, 2, 1 basis from the nominees of the 17 other clubs. The votes are tallied and the player with the highest score wins the honour of MVP. Players cannot vote for their own teammates in stage two of the process.
AFLPA Awards: 2023 Western Bulldogs nominees
Most Valuable Player Award, presented by Snaffle
Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, Tim English
Best Captain, presented by The Diamond Guys
Marcus Bontempelli
Most Courageous Player, presented by Tackle Your Feelings
Tom Liberatore
Best First Year Player, presented by Local Expert
James O’Donnell
