Sydney Swans Callum Mils has polled a perfect 10 votes for the AFL Coaches Association’s AFL Champion Player Award following Sydney’s 92-point victory over the West Coast Eagles at GMHBA Stadium in Round 16.

The votes were split amongst the red and white with Ollie Florent (7), Isaac Heeney (4), Tom Hickey (3), Justin McInerney (2), Jordan Dawson (2), Lance Franklin (1) and George Hewett (1) also polling votes.

Mills finished the clash with a team-high 35 disposals and four tackles. The midfielder had seven inside-50s and nine scoring involvements in the dominant victory.

VOTES PLAYER (CLUB)
10 Callum Mills (SYD)
7 Oliver Florent (SYD)
4 Isaac Heeney (SYD)
3 Tom Hickey (SYD)
2 Justin McInerney (SYD)
2 Jordan Dawson (SYD)
1 Lance Franklin (SYD)
1 George Hewett (SYD)

Speaking after the clash, Mills said the team really wanted to bounce back after a few recent losses and put in a complete performance.

“It came down to our willingness to keep fighting right until the last quarter. We had a few defensive stoppages and we didn’t concede - we held in and credit to the guys for not letting them score in the last quarter. It was a huge effort," Mills said.

"We wanted to be able to bounce back from those poor performances in recent weeks. The reality is sometimes they do happen, but it’s the way you bounce back from them that’s really important, and today was a really good example of that.”

Following Round 16, Mills now sits as the highest polling Sydney player on the leaderboard with 37 votes. It is the second time this season he has polled the full 10 votes. Ruckman Tom Hickey sits second with 34 votes.

Marcus Bontempelli leads the tally with 76 votes. Click here for the full leaderboard.

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.

Mills has also zoomed in on the leaders in this year’s Carey Bunton Medal for the best player from NSW in the AFL based on the votes for the AFL Coaches Award.

Mills is now on thirty-seven votes, just three behind outright leader Jacob Hopper (GWS Giants) and only one vote behind early-season leader Adelaide star forward Taylor Walker. Isaac Heeney (Swans) and last year’s winner Tom Hawkins of Geelong both scored votes in round 16 and remain in contention for the award.

The Carey-Bunton Medal recognises the best NSW-bred player in the AFL, with the medal will be awarded to the NSW player who records the most votes in the AFL Coaches Association’s Champion Player of the Year Award. The leaderboard after round sixteen is below.

CAREY-BUNTON MEDAL VOTES ROUND 16
40 Jacob Hopper (Leeton-Whitton) - GWS Giants
38 Taylor Walker (North Broken Hill) – Adelaide
37 Callum Mills (Mosman) - Sydney Swans (R16 10 votes v WCE)
27 Isaac Heeney (Cardiff) - Sydney Swans (R16 4 votes v WCE)
22 Tom Hawkins (Finley) – Geelong (R16 7 votes v ESS
10 Sam Wicks (Manly-Warringah) – Sydney Swans
10 Zach Williams (Narrandera) – Carlton
9 Errol Gulden (UNSW-Eastern Suburbs) - Sydney Swans
8 Lachie Schultz ((Moama) – Fremantle
6 Jacob Koschitzke (Albury) – Hawthorn
6 Dane Rampe (UNSW-Eastern Suburbs) Sydney Swans
6 Jeremy Finlayson (Culcairn) – GWS Giants
5 Braeden Campbell (Pennant Hills) – Sydney Swans
4 Harry Cunningham (Turvey Park) - Sydney Swan
4 Dougal Howard (Wagga Tigers) – St Kilda
3 Matthew Flynn (Narrandera) - GWS Giants
3 Harry Perryman (Collingullie) - GWS Giants 
3 Taylor Duryea (Corowa) – Western Bulldogs
2 Harry Himmelberg (Mangoplah-Cookardinia United) – GWS Giants
2 Jarrad Witts (Sydney University) – Gold Coas
2 Todd Marshall (Deniliquin) – Port Adelaide
2 Luke Breust (Temora) – Hawthorn
2 Isaac Smith (Cootamundra) – Geelong (R16 1 votes v ESS)