Jack Macrae

Gary Ayres Award: Pair of Pups unbeatable at the top

The Bulldogs’ accumulator could well have the prize sewn up already.

Published by
Ed Carmine

Following their side's pair of hefty prelim' wins, a raft of Demons and Dogs up the table for this season's Gary Ayres Award handed to the best player across the finals series.

However, after backing up his perfect 10 votes with a near-on nine in the rout of Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs midfielder Jack Macrae is still leading the pack for the prize.

Macrae's 36 disposals and four clearances against the sparkless Power was enough to see him gain top billing on Saturday night, yet the 2016 premiership player was forced to share the podium with his flamboyant teammate, Bailey Smith.

The mulleted maestro added to his eight votes gained against Brisbane with a set of nine nods from both coaches after slotting four majors and finding the Sherrin 23 times.

The pair currently occupy the gold and silver slots in the count heading into the Grand Final on Saturday week and remain the only players mathematically able to claim the prize.

Other nominees for the business end honour included offensive trio Mitch Hannan (5), Aaron Naughton (2) and Josh Schache (1), whilst a vintage Marcus Bontempelli performance (3) and ameliorated output from Adam Treloar (1) rounded out a red, white and blue clean sweep.

Following the Demons' demolition of the hapless Cats on Friday night, skipper Max Gawn was predictably awarded a perfect set of 10 votes after snagging five-goals and recording 33 hitouts in an 83-point victory.

The fleet of midfielders beneath the bearded ruckman's feet also featured, with the efforts of Christian Petracca (6), Clayton Oliver (4) and Jack Viney (3) catching both Simon Goodwin and Chris Scott's eye.

Half-back flanker Christian Salem and small-forward Kysiah Pickett capped off the one-sided affair with six and and one vote(s) respectively.

The award will be decided in the wake of the decider, but unless Macrae goes missing on Grand Final night, the 27-year-old's body of work across the last month should see him salute ahead of Smith.

CURRENT LEADERBOARD

25 Jack Macrae WB
17 Bailey Smith WB
14 Clayton Oliver MELB
13 Christian Petracca MELB
11 Max Gawn MELB
10 Marcus Bontempelli WB
10 Tom Hawkins GEEL
10 Isaac Heeney SYD
9 Travis Boak PORT
8 Tom Liberatore WB
8 Zach Tuohy GEEL
7 Ollie Wines PORT
6 Aliir Aliir PORT
6 Josh Kelly GWS
6 Luke Parker SYD
6 Christian Salem MELB
5 Charlie Cameron BL
5 Mitch Hannan WB
5 Jack Henry GEEL
5 Hugh McCluggage BL
5 Cody Weightman WB

 

Published by
Ed Carmine