Bulldogs’ trio Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore and Aaron Naughton have been put forward as nominees for the 2022 AFLPA’s Most Valuable Player award.
The MVP Award – the Leigh Matthews Trophy – is a player-voted honour, which recognises the players’ player for the season.
Bontempelli was crowned the MVP last season, while also claiming the Best Captain award – which he is again automatically nominated for.
The 26-year-old played all but one match this season, averaging 23 disposals, five marks and five clearances while contributing 22 goals.
Liberatore was the Club’s clearance specialist, recording 58 centre clearances from his 22 games to go with an average of 25 disposals and five tackles.
Naughton finished the home-and-away season atop of the Bulldogs’ goalkicking tally with 51 majors.
Star midfielder Josh Dunkley is in the running for Most Courageous Player, while 2022 debutant Robbie McComb has been nominated for the Best First Year Player.
All winners will be announced on Wednesday 24 August alongside the AFL Awards, broadcast live on Fox Footy.
The nomination for the MVP Award is a two-stage process. The first involves players nominating three teammates for the award, before three nominees from every club are presented to the wider playing group for a vote to decide the winner. Players cannot vote for their own teammates in stage two of the process.
