Skipper Ellie Blackburn’s red-hot start to 2021 certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed.

The star Western Bulldogs midfielder leads the AFL Coaches’ Association’s AFLW Champion Player of the Year award after the first three rounds of the season, after collecting 28 of a possible 30 votes across that period.

Blackburn has been judged best afield by both coaches in the Bulldogs’ back-to-back wins – against the Geelong Cats and Carlton – and polled eight votes in a narrow round one loss to St Kilda.

It’s the best start to a season by any Bulldogs player – male or female – since the coaches votes awards were introduced.

Blackburn has surpassed men’s skipper Marcus Bontempelli’s previous record of 25 votes across the first three rounds in 2019, when he won the champion player award.

Despite her dominance, Blackburn leads the voting by just two in 2021 – with Fremantle’s Kiara Bowers (26 votes), Collingwood’s Brittany Bonnici (25) and GWS Giants’ Alyce Parker (25) in pursuit.

The 25-year-old has had more than 20 disposals in each of her three matches this year.

Against the Blues and Saints, Blackburn also hit the scoreboard with two goals in each game. She wasn’t able to snag a goal in last Friday’s win against the Cats, but had nine tackles to go with 25 disposals in a low-scoring arm wrestle.

Unsurprisingly, Blackburn’s dominance also extends to AFL Media’s Team of the Week.

She’s one of just two players – alongside Parker – to feature in the team across all three rounds.