HAWTHORN trio Josh Gibson, Sam Mitchell and Jarryd Roughead have been nominated by their teammates as the Club’s most valuable players and now are in contention to win the AFL Players’ Association Most Valuable Player award.
The AFLPA’s MVP will be crowned tonight and awarded the Leigh Matthews Trophy.
The trio have all had outstanding seasons and have been named in the All Australian squad of 40 such has been their contribution to the Hawks in 2013.
It can be argued that all three have taken their game to a new level this season, with Gibson reinforcing his reputation as one of the best spoilers in the game, but now too is a player capable of being damaging off half back with his rebound from defence.
Gibson averaged 18.2 disposals during the home and away rounds and 4.4 marks.
Mitchell was moved to half back early in the season with great success, able to slice through the opposition’s forward pressure both across half back and through the midfield.
Despite not playing exclusively as a midfielder where he has won four best and fairest awards, Mitchell still averaged 28.3 disposals and 3.1 tackles.
Roughead has had arguably a career-best year, winning the Coleman Medal as the competition’s leading goal kicker with 68 for the season – an average of three per game.
What is remarkable about the Hawthorn forward though is that he actually hasn’t played exclusively as a forward in 2013.
He shocked many when he was moved into the midfield as a rover in Round 7 against Sydney and continued to play that role in patches for the remainder of the season.
He also enjoyed time in the ruck, with his versatility one of his biggest strengths and why he’s such an important player for the Hawks.
Each Hawks player, along with players from other clubs were required to nominate three teammates they deemed to have been the most valuable to their team across the home and away season, with the votes tallied to form a nomination list of 54 players across all 18 clubs (three nominees from each team).
All AFL players were then required to vote on a 3, 2, 1 basis amongst the nominees from the other 17 clubs to find the winner.
The AFLPA’s MVP award is named after Club and AFL Legend Leigh Matthews, the inaugural winner of the MVP award in 1982.
Past winners of the award from Hawthorn include Matthews (1982), Russell Greene (1984), Jason Dunstall (1992) and Shane Crawford (1999).
Gold Coast Suns Captain Gary Ablett won the award in 2012.
2013 AFLPA MVP nominees
Adelaide – DANGERFIELD Patrick
Adelaide – DOUGLAS Richard
Adelaide – SLOANE Rory
Brisbane - HANLEY Pearce
Brisbane - LEUENBERGER Matthew
Brisbane – REDDEN Jack
Carlton – HENDERSON Lachie
Carlton – JUDD Chris
Carlton – SIMPSON Kade
Collingwood – PENDLEBURY Scott
Collingwood – SIDEBOTTOM Steele
Collingwood – SWAN Dane
Essendon – CARLISLE Jack
Essendon – HEPPELL Dyson
Essendon – WATSON Jobe
Fremantle – CROWLEY Ryan
Fremantle - FYFE Nathan
Fremantle – JOHNSON Michael
Geelong – ENRIGHT Corey
Geelong – SELWOOD Joel
Geelong – TAYLOR Harry
Gold Coast – ABLETT JNR Gary
Gold Coast – O’MEARA Jaeger
Gold Coast – THOMPSON Rory
Greater Western Sydney – CAMERON Jeremy
Greater Western Sydney – GILES Jonathan
Greater Western Sydney – SCULLY Tom
Hawthorn – GIBSON Josh
Hawthorn – MITCHELL Sam
Hawthorn – ROUGHEAD Jarryd
Melbourne – FRAWLEY James
Melbourne – GARLAND Collin
Melbourne – JONES Nathan
North Melbourne – SWALLOW Andrew
North Melbourne – THOMAS Lindsay
North Melbourne – THOMPSON Scott
Port Adelaide – BOAK Travis
Port Adelaide – WESTHOFF Justin
Port Adelaide – WINGARD Chad
Richmond – COTCHIN Trent
Richmond – DELEDIO Brett
Richmond – JACKSON Daniel
St Kilda – MONTAGNA Leigh
St Kilda – RIEWOLDT Nick
St Kilda – STEVEN Jack
Sydney – HANNEBERY Daniel
Sydney – JACK Kieren
Sydney – McVEIGH Jarrad
West Coast – GLASS Darren
West Coast – KENNEDY Josh
West Coast – MACKENZIE Eric
Western Bulldogs – GRIFFEN Ryan
Western Bulldogs – LIBERATORE Tom
Western Bulldogs – MINSON Will
