PORT ADELAIDE midfielder Travis Boak is closing in on the leaders in the 2021 AFLCA CHAMPION PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD after his side’s two-point win over Richmond on Friday night.
Boak finished with a team-high 29 disposals including 13 contested and he led the match for clearances with seven.
It was an important performance from the 32-year-old who was part of a midfield challenged to respond after a poor showing in Perth a week earlier.
Boak was given seven votes by the coaches along with Tigers forward Kane Lambert.
Boak’s teammates Ollie Wines and Robbie Gray each polled five votes after playing important roles in the win, especially in the dying stages.
Gray both kicked the winning goal and rushed a late behind to give his side possession. He also had 15 disposals and three tackles to go with nine score involvements.
Wines had 27 disposals, six intercepts, four tackles and five clearances but will also be remembered for a couple of late marks to help ice the game.
Port Adelaide’s Aliir Aliir and Karl Amon each polled two votes and Richmond’s Shai Bolton and Toby Nankervis got one each.
Just three players across the competition scored the perfect 10 votes including Sydney’s Luke Parker, St Kilda’s Jack Steele and Melbourne’s Christian Petracca.
Adelaide’s Taylor Walker leads the voting with 28 votes with Boak Port Adelaide’s best placed in seventh, ten votes behind.
Round 4 – votes v Richmond
7 votes – Boak (PA) Lambert (Rich)
5 votes – Wines (PA), Gray (PA)
2 votes – Aliir (PA), Amon (PA)
1 vote – Bolton (Rich), Nankervis (Rich)
Overall leader board
28 votes – Taylor Walker (Adelaide)
22 votes – Max Gawn (Melbourne), Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs)
20 votes - Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
19 votes – Dustin Martin (Richmond), David Mundy (Fremantle)
18 votes – Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
17 votes – Toby Greene (GWS), Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn)
16 votes – Darcy Moore (Collingwood), Rory Laird (Adelaide), Zach Merrett (Essendon)
