Port Adelaide vice-captain Ollie Wines continued his strong form through the back end of the season with a standout game in Thursday night's Qualifying Final win over Geelong.

PORT ADELAIDE midfielder Ollie Wines' strong performance through the first weekend of finals has been recognised by the game's coaches in voting for the Gary Ayres Award.

Wines collected a game-high 24 disposals, won five clearances and laid five tackles, all while leading the Power in metres gained (435m - second-most on the ground) as Port booked its place in a preliminary final next week.

For his troubles Wines received nine votes from Ken Hinkley and Chris Scott.

The Gary Ayres Award, named after the five-time premiership and two-time Norm Smith Medallist Hawthorn superstar, recognises the player adjudged as the best player throughout the AFL Finals series, as voted by the competing coaches after every game of the AFL Finals series, with each coach providing their 5-4-3-2-1 for the match.

Fellow tenacious midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper received five votes after gathering 14 touches at 92.9% efficiency and setting the tone early with five clearances in the opening term.

Bizarrely, with no other player receiving higher than five votes it means Powell-Pepper received the maximum votes from one senior coach and none from the other.

There was a difference in opinion when the game's coaches judged Sam Powell-Pepper's impact on Thursday night, with one nominating him as best on ground and the other not ranking him within the top five on the ground.

Tom Rockliff performed admirably in his first AFL final (22 possessions and nine tackles) and received four votes, as did Hamish Hartlett whose game-high eight intercepts were crucial to Port Adelaide suffocating Geelong's ability to escape its defensive 50m.

Rounding out the votes for the hosts were veterans Brad Ebert and Steven Motlop, who proved to be the most dangerous forwards on the ground booting five goals from 27 touches between them.

The Cats pairing of the dynamic Brandan Parfitt (two votes) and ruckman Rhys Stanley (one) were the further vote-getters and only recipients for the visitors.

Two players received the maximum of 10 votes across the four games from the first week of the AFL Finals series - Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui and Brisbane rebounding defender Daniel Rich.

Wines currently sits equal third with former teammate Paddy Ryder, who starred for St Kilda in its win over the Bulldogs before succumbing to a season-ending hamstring injury late in the game.

First Qualifying Final – votes v Geelong

9 votes – Wines (Port)

5 votes – Powell-Pepper (Port)

4 votes – Rockliff (Port)

4 votes – Hartlett (Port)

3 votes – Ebert (Port)

2 votes - Motlop (Port)

2 votes - Parfitt (Geelong)

1 vote – Stanley (Geelong)

Overall leader board

10 votes – Nic Naitanui (West Coast), Daniel Rich (Brisbane)

9 votes - Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide), Paddy Ryder (St Kilda)

7 votes - Caleb Daniel (Western Bulldogs), Dougal Howard (St Kilda)

6 votes - Harris Andrews (Brisbane), Charlie Cameron (Brisbane), Hugh McCluggage (Brisbane)

5 votes - Sam Powell-Pepper (Port Adelaide)