PORT ADELAIDE midfielder Travis Boak has finished as the runner-up in the AFL Players’ Association’s MVP award, capping a busy Thursday night for the former Power captain.
Boak finished behind Brisbane’s Lachie Neale, who earlier also took out the AFL Coaches’ Association Champion Player of the Year award.
The MVP award was announced as part of the AFL Awards presentation on Fox Footy on Thursday night.
Neale finished on 1120 votes, well clear of Boak in second on 419 votes, with Melbourne’s Christian Petracca finishing with 398 votes.
Rounding out the top five were Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins and St Kilda’s Jack Steele.
Boak was one of three Port Adelaide players to be nominated by his teammates as part of the two-stage process to determine the competition’s best player as votes by their peers.
The others were Charlie Dixon, who finished ninth in voting, and Darcy Byrne-Jones, with each of those being recognised among 12 first-time All-Australians on the night.
The second stage of the AFLPA MVP process involved the wider playing group around the league voting to decide the winner.
Players were not allowed to vote for their own teammates in the second stage of the process.
Boak also finished third in the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year award and was named vice-captain of the All-Australian side, alongside skipper Patrick Dangerfield.
Among other awards handed out by the AFLPA on the night was Best Captain, which was claimed by Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury (116 votes) with Port's Tom Jonas finishing third (90), and Most Courageous, which was awarded to Swan Dane Rampe (113) with Jonas fourth (61).
AFLPA MVP votes
- Lachie Neale (Brisbane) 1120 votes
- Travis Boak (Port Adelaide) 419 votes
- Christian Petracca (Melbourne) 398 votes
- Tom Hawkins (Geelong) 370 votes
- Jack Steele (St Kilda) 207 votes
