Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli has returned to top spot on the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year leaderboard after round seven. 

Bontempelli has 43 votes to his name, and leads the award from Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps (38) and Geelong midfielder Tim Kelly (35). 

Only three players have polled more votes than the Bulldogs’ vice-captain in the first seven rounds of a season – Nat Fyfe (58, in 2015), Chris Judd (48, 2007) and Gary Ablett jnr (45, 2014).

The Bulldogs produced a clean sweep of the votes in Saturday night’s’ impressive win against Richmond. 

Key forward Aaron Naughton was best afield in the eyes of both coaches, collecting the perfect 10 votes for his five-goal, 14-mark performance.

Bontempelli was next best, with eight votes for his 27-disposal, three-goal game.

The remaining votes were shared between five Bulldogs. 

In his 50^th AFL match, midfielder Josh Dunkley earned five votes, while rebounding defender Caleb Daniel continued his strong season and picked up three votes. 

Hayden Crozier earned two votes, while Jackson Trengove and Toby McLean rounded out the votes with one apiece.