If the 2018 Bob Skilton Medal vote-count last night was a hare and the tortoise race then Jake Lloyd was very definitely the tortoise. He was slow early and steady throughout for a magnificent win.

The ever-durable 25-year-old defender was as consistent as you get to win the coveted Sydney Swans club championship after finishing equal second last year and seventh in 2016.

By the end of a thrilling vote count the three place-getters of 2017 finished at the top of the 2018 leader board again, with Lloyd (540 votes) jumping from equal second to first, Luke Parker (517) going first to second, and Lance Franklin (510) from equal second to third.

Isaac Heeney (463) was fourth from Josh Kennedy (435), Dane Rampe (433), George Hewett (430), Jarrad McVeigh (353), Callum Sinclair (351) and Harry Cunningham (331).

Under a voting system where each player could poll as many as 50 votes in each game, Lloyd became the first rookie in club history to win the Swans’ No.1 individual award.

Lloyd polled in every game except the elimination final. Parker was in the votes 21 times, Kennedy, Rampe and Cunningham 18 times, Heeney and Tom Papley, who finished 12^th, polled 17 times.

Lloyd polled 20 or more votes in 16 games. Parker and Heeney (15) and Franklin (14) were next best in this category.

And while he was rated the Swans’ best player only once, when he shared top votes with McVeigh against Fremantle in Round 9, Lloyd was among the team’s top five players 10 times. Only Parker (12) and Franklin (11) did so more often. Hewett, too, polled top five 10 times.

But to better present Lloyd’s tortoise-like season his round-by-round ranking in the vote-count was 4-6-7-5-4-4-4-4-2-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.

He was fourth at Round 1, as low as seventh at Round 3, got to second in Round 9, shared the lead with Heeney at Round 15, and led outright from Round 16 to the finish.

If Lloyd was the tortoise, Franklin was definitely the hare. He was rated the Swans best player in the first two games against West Coast and Port Adelaide, led by as many as 37 votes at Round 3 and wasn’t headed until he missed Rounds 6-7-8 through injury.

Franklin was judged the Swans best player five times, and polled 20+ votes 14 times in the 19 games he played, His round-by-round ranking was 1-1-1-1-1-2-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-4-4-4-4-4-3-2-2-2-3.

Parker was somewhere in the middle between the hare and the tortoise. He was judged the Swans best three times and 15 times polled 20+ votes. His round-by-round ranking was 2-2-3-3-3-5-8-5-5-3-3-3-3-3-2-3-2-2-2-3-3-3-2.

As the count unfolded, Franklin (170) led after five rounds from Heeney (149), Parker (115), Lloyd (102), McVeigh (95), Sinclair (91), Cunningham (84), Rampe (83), Nick Smith (79) and Hewett (70).

Heeney grabbed the lead in Round 6 and held that outright to Round 13, when he had 351 votes to lead Lloyd (321), Parker (308), Franklin (302), Rampe (298), Sinclair (288), Kennedy (286), Hewett (283), McVeigh (269) and Heath Grundy (227).

Heeney, 10^th in the 2017 Skilton Medal, was ranked among the Swans top five players eight times and had a round-by-round ranking of 3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-3-2-3-3-4-3-4-4-4.

But after Heeney was injured in Round 15 and sidelined in Round 16 he was joined at the top of the leader board by Lloyd.

By this stage the top five had cleared out. It was Lloyd (370), Parker (364), Heeney (351), Franklin (249) and Kennedy (345) at Round 16, and other than Franklin and Heeney swapping positions this was how they would finish.

But not without a fight from Franklin, who was looking to become just the fifth player in Swans history to win the Skilton Medal after previously winner the club champion award at another club.

Franklin polled maximum votes in Round 20 against Collingwood and Round 22 against GWS to pull within nine votes of Lloyd. It was down to three … Lloyd (519) from Franklin (510) and Parker (493).

But Franklin and Parker were late withdrawals with injury in Round 23 against Hawthorn, and when Lloyd polled 21 votes he took a 30-vote lead into the finals.

When the Swans were badly beaten by GWS in the elimination final and only 91 votes in total were awarded to six players it was all over. Parker polled 24 votes to jump from third to second but Lloyd and Franklin didn’t feature.

In other highlights of the vote-count:-

• Kennedy’s fifth place finish was his ninth top 5 finish in nine years at the Swans. Since finishing third in his first season 2010 he’s gone equal second, first, third, second, first, first, fourth and now fifth.
• Parker has posted his sixth top seven finish in a row. He was sixth in 2013 and since has gone first in 2015, seventh, fourth, first last year and now second.
• After two years out of the top 10 McVeigh posted the 10^th top 10 finish of his career. He was equal 10^th in 2006, missed out in 2007, won the medal in 2008, finished sixth, fourth, 10^th and fifth through to 2012 before winning it again in 2013. Then he was fifth in 2014 and 2015.
• Sinclair was rated the Swans best player four times (including ties) in Rounds 6—7-11-12 and fluctuated throughout the top 10. He was as high as second at Round 8 and fourth at Round 12.
• Hewett shared a mid-season purple patch with Sinclair and was voted the Swans best four times in Rounds 10-11-12 and Round 23 to finish seventh after he was sixth in 2017.
• Aliir Aliir, who played Round 4 but had to wait until Round 13 for his second chance, had a stunning run in the back half of the season. From Round 13 onwards he polled most votes overall with 265, ahead of Lloyd (252), Franklin (237), Parker (232), Kennedy (182), Hewett (181), Rampe (169) and Papley (160). Aliir played only 12 games in total but was rated the Swans best in Round 19 against Essendon and equal best with Parker in the elimination final. He was also rated second best three times.
• Sam Reid played only once in Round 3 but 34 votes in that game against GWS saw him lead the count on a votes per game basis. Seventh on this list was Lewis Melican, who played only Rounds 1-2-3. Top 10 in average votes were Reid (34.00), Franklin (26.84), Parker (23.50), Lloyd (23.48), Aliir (22.08), Heeney (21.05), Melican (19.33), Kennedy (18.91), Rampe (18.83) and Hewett (18.70).
• The highest team vote-count of the season was 533 against eventual premiers West Coast at the SCG in Round 13. Next best was 510 against St.Kilda in Round 1 and 491 against Fremantle in Round 9.
• The lowest team vote was 68 in Round 19 against Essendon, followed by 91 in the elimination final and 96 in Round 18 against Gold Coast.
• Among players who finished outside the top 10, Will Hayward was ninth at Rounds 8-9-10 and 10^th at Rounds 11-12, and Oliver Florent was 10^th at Rounds 17-18-19-20-21. Smith was among the top 10 through the first seven rounds and 10^th at Round 16 before slipping off the leader board. Grundy snuck into the top 10 at Round 13.