Following their side's pair of hefty prelim' wins, a raft of Demons and Dogs up the table for this season's Gary Ayres Award handed to the best player across the finals series.
However, after backing up his perfect 10 votes with a near-on nine in the rout of Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs midfielder Jack Macrae is still leading the pack for the prize.
Macrae's 36 disposals and four clearances against the sparkless Power was enough to see him gain top billing on Saturday night, yet the 2016 premiership player was forced to share the podium with his flamboyant teammate, Bailey Smith.
The mulleted maestro added to his eight votes gained against Brisbane with a set of nine nods from both coaches after slotting four majors and finding the Sherrin 23 times.
It's hard to believe Bailey Smith is putting in performances like these at just 20 years old.
Watch the highlights from his four-goal game thanks to @Toyota_Aus.#FootyOhWhatAFeeling | #AFLFinals pic.twitter.com/jF0Tw4YjSF
— AFL (@AFL) September 11, 2021
The pair currently occupy the gold and silver slots in the count heading into the Grand Final on Saturday week and remain the only players mathematically able to claim the prize.
Bulldogs have Gary Ayres Award sewn up, with Jack Macrae having a convincing lead heading into the GF pic.twitter.com/vLOckghZdJ
— Mitchell Keating (@MitchKeat) September 13, 2021
Other nominees for the business end honour included offensive trio Mitch Hannan (5), Aaron Naughton (2) and Josh Schache (1), whilst a vintage Marcus Bontempelli performance (3) and ameliorated output from Adam Treloar (1) rounded out a red, white and blue clean sweep.
The connection in this group is real ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0o0TcSosTH
— Western Bulldogs (@westernbulldogs) September 12, 2021
Following the Demons' demolition of the hapless Cats on Friday night, skipper Max Gawn was predictably awarded a perfect set of 10 votes after snagging five-goals and recording 33 hitouts in an 83-point victory.
That was a mind blowing performance!
Max Gawn's magnificent highlights, brought to you by @toyota_aus#FootyOhWhatAFeeling | #AFLFinals pic.twitter.com/z8dYlsxWQB
— AFL (@AFL) September 10, 2021
The fleet of midfielders beneath the bearded ruckman's feet also featured, with the efforts of Christian Petracca (6), Clayton Oliver (4) and Jack Viney (3) catching both Simon Goodwin and Chris Scott's eye.
Half-back flanker Christian Salem and small-forward Kysiah Pickett capped off the one-sided affair with six and and one vote(s) respectively.
"It was pretty incredible." 🙌
Salo reflects post-match on the side's emphatic win over the Cats.
🎥: https://t.co/AzfchorP9P pic.twitter.com/PIpAInbEH4
— Melbourne Demons (@melbournefc) September 11, 2021
The award will be decided in the wake of the decider, but unless Macrae goes missing on Grand Final night, the 27-year-old's body of work across the last month should see him salute ahead of Smith.
CURRENT LEADERBOARD
| 25 | Jack Macrae | WB |
| 17 | Bailey Smith | WB |
| 14 | Clayton Oliver | MELB |
| 13 | Christian Petracca | MELB |
| 11 | Max Gawn | MELB |
| 10 | Marcus Bontempelli | WB |
| 10 | Tom Hawkins | GEEL |
| 10 | Isaac Heeney | SYD |
| 9 | Travis Boak | PORT |
| 8 | Tom Liberatore | WB |
| 8 | Zach Tuohy | GEEL |
| 7 | Ollie Wines | PORT |
| 6 | Aliir Aliir | PORT |
| 6 | Josh Kelly | GWS |
| 6 | Luke Parker | SYD |
| 6 | Christian Salem | MELB |
| 5 | Charlie Cameron | BL |
| 5 | Mitch Hannan | WB |
| 5 | Jack Henry | GEEL |
| 5 | Hugh McCluggage | BL |
| 5 | Cody Weightman | WB |
