Simon Black, Jack Redden and Tom Rockliff have been elected by their team-mates as the Club's top candidates for the AFL Players Association's Most Valuable Player award which will be announced on Monday 12 September.

The AFL?s foremost peer-determined award - named the Leigh Matthews Trophy - is entering its 29th year and continues to grow in stature as the only awards voted by the players themselves.

While Black has been among the three Lions nominees in almost every year over the past decade, it proves another first for young guns Rockliff and Redden who have been named for the first time.

Even though Carlton's Chris Judd and Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury are favoured to win the AFLPA MVP award, it is still an honour to earn one of only three nominations from your fellow players.     

AFL Players? Association President Luke Power said players are always striving for the recognition of their peers, and the MVP Awards are the ultimate expression of the respect players have for each other.

“The regard of other players, whether they are on your team or not, has huge value to us. This is why winning an AFL Players? MVP is considered so special,” Power said.  

A range of other awards will be up for grabs during the evening including; The Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award; The Best Captain Award; The Best First Year Player Award; and the Education and Training Excellence Award.

Lions Captain Jonathan Brown will be in contention for both the Best Captain and Most Courageous player awards - honours he has taken home in previous years.

Meanwhile, popular teenager Patrick Karnezis have been nominated as the Lions' representative for the Best First Year Player award.

A full list of nominees are below:

Most Valuable Player Award
Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
Simon Black (Brisbane)
Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
Nathan Bock (Gold Coast)
Jude Bolton (Sydney Swans)
Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
Domenic Cassisi (Port Adelaide)
Travis Cloke (Collingwood)
Joel Corey (Geelong)
Trent Cotchin (Richmond)
Dean Cox (West Coast)
Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda)
Brett Deledio (Richmond)
Sean Dempster (St Kilda)
Sam Fisher (St Kilda)
Dustin Fletcher (Essendon)
Lance Franklin (Hawthorn)
Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle)
Josh Gibson (Hawthorn)
Darren Glass (West Coast)
Adam Goodes (Sydney)
Ryan Griffin (Western Bulldogs)
Hamish Hartlett (Port Adelaide)
Dyson Heppell (Essendon)
Graham Johncock (Adelaide)
Chris Judd (Carlton)
James Kelly (Geelong)
Jordie McKenzie (Melbourne)
Luke McPharlin (Fremantle)
Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)
Brent Moloney (Melbourne)
Marc Murphy (Carlton)
Rob Murphy (Western Bulldogs) 
Chris Newman (Richmond)
Ryan O'Keefe (Sydney)
Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle)
Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
Drew Petrie (North Melbourne)
Matthew Priddis (West Coast)
Jack Redden (Brisbane Lions) 
Michael Rischitelli (Gold Coast)
Thomas Rockliff (Brisbane Lions) 
Ben Rutten (Adelaide)
Joel Selwood (Geelong)
Kade Simpson (Carlton)
Andrew Swallow (North Melbourne)
Dale Thomas (Collingwood)
Scott Thompson (Adelaide)
Jack Trengove (Melbourne)
Jobe Watson (Essendon)
Daniel Wells (Nth Melbourne)

Best First Year Player
Reece Conca (Richmond)
Jamie Cripps (St Kilda)
Jack Darling (West Coast)
Nick Duigan (Carlton)
Alex Fasolo (Collingwood)
Cameron Guthrie (Geelong)
Dyson Heppell (Essendon)
Jeremy Howe (Melbourne)
Alex Johnson (Sydney)
Patrick Karnezis (Brisbane Lions)
Tom Liberatore (W. Bulldogs)
Tendai Mzungu (Fremantle)
Cameron O' Shea (Port Adelaide)
Cameron Pedersen (Nth. Melbourne)
Brodie Smith (Adelaide)
Isaac Smith (Hawthorn)
David Swallow (Gold Coast)

Most Courageous Player
Luke Ball (Collingwood)
Jude Bolton (Sydney)
Campbell Brown (Gold Coast)
Jonathan Brown (Brisbane Lions)
Daniel Cross (W. Bulldogs)
Sam Fisher (St Kilda)
Levi Greenwood (North Melbourne)
Heath Hocking (Essendon)
Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
Tom Logan (Port Adelaide)
Nick Lower (Fremantle)
Chris Newman (Richmond)
Jared Petrenko (Adelaide)
Jared Rivers (Melbourne)
Joel Selwood (Geelong)
Kade Simpson (Carlton)
Beau Waters (West Coast)

Best Captain Award
Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
Matthew Boyd (W. Bulldogs)
Jonathan Brown (Brisbane Lions) 
Domenic Cassisi (Port Adelaide)
Darren Glass (West Coast)
Adam Goodes (Sydney)
Brad Green (Melbourne)
Brent Harvey (Nth Melbourne)
Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
Chris Judd (Carlton)
Cameron Ling (Geelong)
Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney)
Nick Maxwell (Collingwood)
Chris Newman (Richmond)
Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle)
Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda)
Nathan Van Berlo (Adelaide)
Jobe Watson (Essendon)