In a sign of what might happen next Monday night, Dane Swan has added to his well stocked trophy cabinet by taking out three media awards as the competition’s best player in 2011.
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Swan’s outstanding season earned him the Triple M Best on Ground, the SEN Player of the Year and the 3AW Player of the Year.
The 27-year-old, who earlier this week won his third-consecutive All Australian Guernsey, claimed his second-straight Triple M award by just two votes from Carlton captain Chris Judd, while he took the SEN gong by a massive 10 votes, from Judd also.
Swan shared the 3AW honour with Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell.
All three awards have a similar voting system to the Brownlow, with the respective commentary teams voting on a 3-2-1 basis after every game. Final leaderboards below.
2011 could be the year Collingwood salutes its ninth ever Brownlow Medallist, with both Swan and Scott Pendlebury tipped to poll well on September 26.
Swan, who is aiming to become the first Collingwood player in history to win four-straight Copeland Trophies, played 21 home-and-away matches and averaged 31.6 disposals per game, the second most in the competition, and also booted 30 goals, the most of any midfielder.
He averaged an astonishing 34 touches per outing in the final 11 rounds of the season after spending two weeks in the USA in June training at altitude.
Swan won a swag of media awards last year and was raging favourite for the Brownlow Medal before finishing third with 24 votes, six behind winner Chris Judd.
Pendlebury, who was runner-up to Judd as the AFL Players’ Association Most Valuable Player, was the second-highest placed Magpie in the SEN, Triple M and 3AW awards, finishing top 10 in SEN and Triple M, and equal 11th in 3AW.
The 23-year-old played every game and averaged over 29 disposals in 2011, and also earned All Australian honours for the second-straight year.
In other media awards, Pendlebury was third for the second-straight year in the Herald Sun Player of the Year. Swan, the winner of the past two years, was fourth.
Swan was fourth, Pendlebury sixth and Travis Cloke seventh in The Age Footballer of the Year, while Swan and Dale Thomas finished equal eighth in Channel 9’s Lou Richards Medal voting.
In the ABC Grandstand Footballer of the Year, Swan finished equal second and Pendlebury was fifth.
TRIPLE M BONAIRE BEST ON GROUND
29 Dane Swan (Coll)
27 Chris Judd (Carl)
21 Gary Ablett (GCS)
20 Matthew Boyd (WBD)
20 Sam Mitchell (Haw)
19 Brent Moloney (Melb)
18 Trent Cotchin (Rich)
17 Dean Cox (WCE)
16 Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
15 Adam Goodes (Syd)
SEN MARBLETREND PLAYER OF THE YEAR
34. Dane Swan (Collingwood)
24. Chris Judd (Carlton)
19. Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)
19. Scott Thompson (Adelaide)
19. Jobe Watson (Essendon)
19. Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
18. Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
18. Marc Murphy (Carlton)
17. Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
17. Adam Goodes (Sydney)
3AW PLAYER OF THE YEAR
25 - D Swan (Collingwood) / S Mitchell (Hawthorn)
22 - C Judd (Carlton)
21 - M Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
20 - D Cox (West Coast)/A Goodes (Sydney)
19 - G Ablett (Gold Coast)
17 - J Selwood (Geelong)/L Franklin (Hawthorn)/M Murphy (Carlton)
15 - J Kelly (Geelong)/S Pendlebury (Collingwood)/N Dal Santo (St Kilda)/ A Embley (West Coast)
