‘Overwhelming group to join’: 21-year first as players vote star AFL’s MVP; rival joins club greats

Nick Daicos’ elite consistency has been recognised by the playing fraternity, with the Collingwood superstar voted by his peers as this season’s best AFL’ player in a 21-year first.

Daicos, 22, on Thursday night became the youngest Leigh Matthews Trophy winner since St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt in 2004 and the fourth-youngest overall in the MVP award’s history. 

In other AFLPA awards given out as part of the AFL Awards night, Adelaide skipper Jordan Dawson — who finished second to Daicos in MVP voting — was named Best Captain, while Brisbane’s Josh Dunkley won the Robert Rose Most Courageous Award and Dockers young gun Murphy Reid was voted Best First-Year Player.

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In a hotly-contested field for the MVP, Daicos was voted by his peers as the best player in the AFL this season, with Dawson and St Kilda’s Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera finishing second and third respectively.

Wester Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli — who’d won the previous two MVP awards — and Geelong goalkicker Jeremy Cameron rounded out the top five.

Remarkably, Daicos’ MVP triumph comes one week after he was selected in the 22under22 team for the fourth straight season.

He also became the first Collingwood AFL player to be crowned AFLPA MVP since Dane Swan in 2010.

“It’s a huge honour to be voted this year’s MVP,” Daicos said.

AFLW AWARDS: All-Australian team and full winners list

“There are so many impressive footballers in the game at the moment, people who I get to play both with and against, and the list of previous winners is quite an overwhelming group to join.

“I’m very grateful for what I get to do each week, and to be recognised by my fellow players.”

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 — which was released earlier this week — 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. Players can’t vote for their own teammates in stage two of the process.

The votes are tallied and the player with the highest score wins the honour of MVP.

A similar process is followed for Best First Year Player and Most Courageous, but every captain is automatically nominated for the Best Captain Award.

Adelaide’s Dawson edged out Bontempelli and first-year Suns skipper Noah Anderson to claim the Best Captain Award, with Giants’ Toby Greene and Brisbane’s Harris Andrews rounding out the top five.

Dawson, who was traded to Adelaide after the 2021 season then made captain for the 2023 season, became the third Crows player to win the title after Mark Ricciuto (2005 and 2006) and Taylor Walker (2016 and 2017).

Dunkley, 28, was named the AFL’s most courageous player for the first time, after finishing in the top five last season. He joined Lions legends Michael Voss (2001) and Jonathan Brown (2007, 2008, and 2011) as Most Courageous recipients.

The Brisbane midfielder claimed the award ahead of Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters — who’d won the previous two Most Courageous awards — and Geelong’s Tom Atkins. Bulldogs midfielder Tom Liberatore and Richmond defender Nick Vlastuin completed the top five.

And Docker Reid was crowned the Best First-Year player, becoming the fifth Docker to win the title after Paul Haselby (2000), Rhys Palmer (2008), Michael Barlow (2010) and Caleb Serong (2020).

Reid pipped Brisbane’s Levi Ashcroft and Melbourne’s Harvey Langford, with St Kilda’s Alix Tauru, North Melbourne’s Finn O’Sullivan and Bulldogs’ Sam Davidson rounding out the top six.

2025 AFLPA AWARDS — WINNERS AND VOTES

Leigh Matthews Trophy for the Most Valuable Player

1. Nick Daicos (Collingwood)

2. Jordan Dawson (Adelaide Crows)

3. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (St Kilda)

4. Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)

5. Jeremy Cameron (Geelong Cats)

Best Captain

1. Jordan Dawson (Adelaide Crows)

2. Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)

3. Noah Anderson (Gold Coast Suns)

4. Toby Greene (GWS Giants)

5. Harris Andrews (Brisbane Lions)

Best First-Year Player Award

1. Murphy Reid (Fremantle)

2. Levi Ashcroft (Brisbane Lions)

3. Harvey Langford (Melbourne)

4. Alix Tauru (St Kilda)

=5. Finn O’Sullivan (North Melbourne) and Sam Davidson (Western Bulldogs)

Robert Rose Most Courageous Award

1. Josh Dunkley (Brisbane Lions)

2. Zak Butters (Port Adelaide)

3. Tom Atkins (Geelong Cats)

4. Tom Liberatore (Western Bulldogs)

5. Nick Vlastuin (Richmond)