FOOTY'S best player has just been ruled out of the Brownlow Medal.
That's the emphatic view of fans, who have named Nat Fyfe the AFL's most valuable player.
Of the more than 48,000 people who voted in the 2018 fan survey conducted by AFL.com.au and the AFL Record, 19 per cent name Fyfe the competition's MVP.
The superstar Docker last topped the fans' vote in 2015, when he went on to win the Brownlow Medal.
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Reigning Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin is second in this year's poll, while electric West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui storms into third place after returning from his season-long layoff in domineering form.
West Australians dominate this year's top 10, with Fyfe and Naitanui joined by WA-born Lance Franklin (fourth), Patrick Cripps (seventh) and Jack Darling (ninth).
Explosive Geelong onballer Patrick Dangerfield was the fans' MVP in last year's survey, conducted mid-season before Martin's surge to Brownlow and premiership glory, but slips to sixth position in 2018.
Asked which young gun is most likely to win a future Brownlow, almost half of fans tipped Carlton's Cripps from a shortlist of six players.
Prolific Western Bulldogs ball-winner Jack Macrae, Swans gun Isaac Heeney, Melbourne bull Clayton Oliver, Essendon jet Andrew McGrath and Port Adelaide brute Sam Powell-Pepper were the other options.
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Hawthorn's master strategist Alastair Clarkson has blitzed the field to take out the title of footy's best match-day coach.
Clarkson, who has guided Hawthorn to four flags and within striking range of the finals this season, has taken out 40 per cent of the vote.
Beneath Clarkson are a couple of his former assistants, West Coast's Adam Simpson and Richmond's Damien Hardwick.
Simpson's Eagles have won 10 consecutive games after many pundits tipped them to finish near the foot of the ladder, while the Tigers won last year's flag and look set to launch another assault on the premiership.
It's been a dramatic fall for Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, who topped last year's results with 29 per cent – one point ahead of Clarkson.
This season, Beveridge earns just two per cent of the votes.
We'll have more results from the fan survey on AFL.com.au and the Official AFL App on Friday. The full survey results will be published in the round 12 edition of the AFL Record, available at all venues.
More 2018 Fan Survey results
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