Fremantle defender Luke Ryan has earned a perfect 10 coaches votes following Fremantle’s 12-point win over Collingwood on Sunday.
Four Fremantle players polled in the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year award, with Ryan’s top votes being followed by veteran David Mundy (8), Rising Star nominee Caleb Serong (6) and forward Matt Taberner (2) off the back of his four-goal performance.
Ryan’s 25 disposals, seven marks, 11 rebound 50s, 525 metres gained and nine intercepts made him one of Freo’s most important players for the match as he continued to build on what has already been a stellar season.
Senior coach Justin Longmuir lauded Ryan’s performance, saying he believed the defender has been fighting out of his weight division this year.
“I think he’s been our most consistent player, you just have to look at who he’s played on and who he’s competed against to get the enormity of the way he’s gone about his footy this year,” Longmuir said.
“He’s been out of his weight division a lot and he’s just competed through his positioning and his competitiveness, he’s going really well.”
The performance also earned high praise from teammate Mitch Crowden post-match, who suggested the 24-year-old could be in line for an All Australian jacket at the end of the year.
“I dunno, he (Ryan) might be an All Australian half back? He’s gone really well. His effort every game, he always plays outsized,” Crowden said.
“He had Coxy (Brennan Cox) back there, which he would have appreciated tonight. He’s absolutely unreal. He backs it up every week and it was great to have him in our team.”
Following a strong performance last week, David Mundy showed everyone that he still had plenty to give after having a huge impact in the middle on Sunday night.
Mundy finished the game with 23 disposals, five tackles and an impressive 10 clearances, four of which coming from the centre of the ground.
Whilst it wasn’t as important as his famous goal against Richmond in 2017, Mundy also gave Freo fans yet another goal after the siren to smile about with a set shot from 15 metres out, topping off a successful night at Optus Stadium.
First-year gun Caleb Serong backed up his Rising Star worthy performance against the Cats last week, racking up 24 disposals, six tackles and nine clearances in the midfield.
The 19-year-old was clean and hard at the ball all day in just his sixth game of AFL football with 14 of his 24 disposals being contested, the third highest of any player on the ground.
Forward Matt Taberner continued to deliver for Freo earning himself two votes, kicking four goals straight for the game, making him one of only four players to have kicked a goal in every game this season.
Taberner now sits sixth in the race for the Coleman Medal with a total of 16 goals in season 2020.
VOTES V COLLINGWOOD
10 - Luke Ryan (FREO)
8 - David Mundy (FREO)
6 - Caleb Serong (FREO)
3 - Brayden Maynard (COLL)
2 - Matt Taberner (FREO)
1 - Steele Sidebottom (COLL)
