Perfect 10 for Ratugolea

Improved Cats defender Esava Ratugolea has proven he’s found a home in Geelong’s back six, receiving the perfect 10 votes from the coaches.

The 24-year-old caught the eye of both coaches with his performance down back against the Crows on Saturday, helping the Cats to a 26-point win, their fifth in a row.

Ratugolea had 13 disposals at 100% efficiency, as well as eight marks, eight intercepts, a game high seven spoils and seven one percenters.

Another Geelong young gun to catch the coaches’ eye was Max Holmes who earned five votes after his 22 disposal and career high eight tackle performance, while Mark Blicavs (4), Zach Guthrie (4), Jeremy Cameron (1) and Mark O’Connor (1) were also among the votes.

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.

Round 8 Votes
10 Esava Ratugolea (GEEL)
5 Max Holmes (GEEL)
4 Mark Blicavs (GEEL)
4 Zach Guthrie (GEEL)
3 Jordan Dawson (ADEL)
2 Lachlan Murphy (ADEL)
1 Jeremy Cameron (GEEL)
1 Mark O’Connor (GEEL)