A seven goal haul has earned Sydney forward Malcolm Rosas Jnr full votes from the coaches in Round 8.
Rosas booted a career-high seven goals to dismantle Melbourne’s defensive structures, roaming inside 50, the livewire became the first Swan since Ben Ronke in 2018 to kick five goals in a single half, including the match-opener. Rosas added two more after the main break to secure the win, marking just the fifth time a Sydney player has recorded seven or more goals in a decade.
In his milestone match, Brodie Grundy dominated in the air to earn eight votes. He notched 45 hit-outs to eclipse Gawn (22) and Max Heath (16) and moves into eighth place on the The AFL Coaches Association’s AFL Champion Player Award leaderboard with 34 votes.
Isaac Heeney, back in the team after missing Round 7 with calf soreness was influential with 33 disposals, earning five votes.
Justin McInerney (29 disposals and one goal) and Joel Amartey (four goals) rounded out the vote getters with two and one votes each.
VOTES PLAYER (CLUB)
10 Malcolm Rosas Jr (SYD)
8 Brodie Grundy (SYD)
5 Isaac Heeney (SYD)
4 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB)
2 Justin McInerney (SYD)
1 Joel Amartey (SYD)
The AFL Coaches Association’s AFL Champion Player Award is an award voted by the 18 coaching panels on a 5,4,3,2,1 basis after each home and away game, acknowledging outstanding effort by an individual player in a season.
