Zero Hanger’s 2024 AFL MVP top 10 unveiled

Voting for Zero Hanger's 2024 MVP Award has been finalised after three players entered Round 24 with a chance to take out this year's honour.

Ollie Wines (255 votes in 2021), shared winners Patrick Cripps and Touk Miller (210 votes in 2022), and Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli (243 votes in 2023) are all past winners of the award.

Cripps entered the final round of the 2024 season with a one-vote lead over Collingwood's Nick Daicos, while Sydney star Isaac Heeney was in reaching distance with a 16-vote deficit.

Throughout the season, the Zero Hanger team - consisting of editor Mitch Keating, general manager Nick Splitter, digital reporter Aidan Cellini and writer Frank Seal - voted on every game to establish our AFL MVP.

Votes were given out on a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 system for each game, meaning the maximum score any player can record in any game is 20.

A Finals MVP Award will be handed down after this year's Grand Final, with Norm Smith Medal winner and Collingwood forward Bobby Hill taking out the title last year.

Here's our final top 10 following an eventful MVP race.

10th. Max Gawn

Votes: 165 votes
Games: 21
Games Polled: 12

The Demons skipper was a constant toward the top of the leaderboard for most of the first half of the season, having held a podium spot until he hit a drought of votes between Rounds 14-20.

Gawn amassed two perfect 20-vote performances for the year - coming in Rounds 7 and 11 - and would manage four more games with 15 or more votes to his name.

9th. Errol Gulden

Votes: 166 votes
Games: 23
Games Polled: 15

For the second successive year, the flashy Swans midfielder has landed in the top 10 on our final MVP leaderboard, having finished fourth in 2023 with 202 votes to his name.

This year, Gulden polled a total of 166 votes, seeing him come 14 votes ahead of teammate Chad Warner in 14th.

Gulden enjoyed a purple patch earlier in the year, polling in 10 of 11 straight games across Rounds 4-15, while his 18-vote performance in Round 24 secured his place in ninth overall to end the season.

8th. Caleb Serong

Votes: 177 votes
Games: 23
Games Polled: 16

The Fremantle star led by example for most of the season - amassing 101 votes through to Round 10 before a quiet period in the middle of the year was eventually snapped by a strong run home.

Serong had just the two 20-vote performances but also had two more that netted him at least 18 votes to poll in a total of 16 of his 23 games for the year.

His eight-placed finish this year follows a seventh-placed finish in 2023 when Serong polled 183 votes for the season.

7th. Zak Butters

Votes: 201 votes
Games: 23
Games Polled: 17

For the second straight year, Butters has finished one place ahead of Caleb Serong on our final MVP leaderboard, but in 2024 the Port Adelaide livewire has surpassed the 200-vote barrier despite falling one place short of his finish from 2023.

Butters enjoyed a strong end to his 2024 campaign, polling 56 votes across the final four rounds of the home and away season to move into seventh spot by the end of Round 24.

In the 17 games where he polled a vote, Butters managed at least 10 votes in 11 of those games to often be among the best for his side.

6th. Lachie Neale

Votes: 215 votes
Games: 22
Games Polled: 17

Neale finished third in last year's MVP running and fifth the year prior, with his strong second half to the 2024 season seeing him rise to sixth and finish highly once again.

The two-time Brownlow Medal winner had just 32 votes from the opening eight weeks before going on a tear, polling 183 votes for the rest of the year - including five perfect 20-vote performances in that run.

5th. Isaac Heeney 

Votes: 218 votes
Games: 21
Games Polled: 17

The Swans ace was our MVP leader for most of the year, having polled in all of his first 14 games for 2024, tallying 175 of his 218 votes to that point of the season.

He endured a drop in form and fell out of the top three before amassing 38 votes across Rounds 22 and 23 to move back onto the podium and in reaching distance of top spot with a week left in the season.

The Swans' decision to rest Heeney for their final game meant not only did he miss out on the crown, but he fell to fifth spot to end the home and away season.

4th. Marcus Bontempelli

Votes: 222 votes
Games: 23
Games Polled: 19

Our reigning MVP winner, Bontempelli was right in the mix for a second straight crown for most of this year, managing five 20-vote performances across the season with another five min.14-vote matches.

Bontempelli polled in all of his seven final home and away games, however more than half of those were for a return of eight or fewer votes.

The Dogs star came sixth in our 2021 count before taking out the title last year, being one of the best represented in the history of our MVP Award.

3rd. Zach Merrett

Votes: 225 votes
Games: 23
Games Polled: 19

For the first time, the Essendon skipper has finished in the top 10 for one of our MVP races, having managed a previous best of 11th in 2021.

Merrett polled in his first 14 appearances for the year for a return of 146 votes before Round 16 to be a contender throughout, finishing with votes in 19 of his 23 games this year.

He would poll at least 15 votes in three of his last four games to clinch a spot on the podium and land three votes ahead of Bontempelli.

2nd. Nick Daicos

Votes: 253 votes
Games: 23
Games Polled: 18

Despite polling in fewer games than Bontempelli and Merrett, Daicos finishes 28 votes ahead of the latter after notching up 13 matches with at least 13 votes - nine of those coming in a 10-game run.

The third-year Collingwood jet polled six 20-vote games for the year, including three in his last five and two in the final fortnight to stay near the top until the end.

Daicos was unlucky to miss out on our MVP Award last year, having held the lead until injury put an abrupt end to his home and away campaign, with the Magpies maestro finishing the year in fifth with 197 votes.

1st. Patrick Cripps

Votes: 254 votes
Games: 23
Games Polled: 20

One vote is all that could separate Cripps and Daicos, with both players putting on an astonishing finish to the season by polling 40 votes from a possible 40 over the final fortnight of the home and away campaign.

Cripps held pole position from Round 18, notching up 64 votes across a four-week stretch leading into that point of the season before adding a further 65 votes to his tally in the final six weeks to record votes in nine of his last 10 games.

The Carlton captain had five perfect 20-vote performances and a further nine with 14 or more votes to record 254 votes for the year - one vote shy of our all-time MVP record held by Port Adelaide's Ollie Wines in 2021.

After Daicos' dominant performance on Friday night against Melbourne, it looked likely that Cripps would require a 20-vote game against St Kilda on Sunday to take out our MVP title.

The Blues bull was herculean in his best efforts to get his side over the line, having a dominant third term before Carlton fell to a last-minute Jack Higgins major.

Nevertheless, Cripps would earn unanimous best-afield honours from our voting panel to take out his second Zero Hanger MVP title, having done so already in 2022.

VIEW FULL 2024 ZERO HANGER MVP LEADERBOARD

Round 24 Votes

Collingwood vs Melbourne

Hawthorn vs North Melbourne

Geelong vs West Coast

Richmond vs Gold Coast

Brisbane vs Essendon

Sydney vs Adelaide

Western Bulldogs vs GWS

Carlton vs St Kilda

Fremantle vs Port Adelaide