DEVILS small Ian Callinan continues to burn brightly in the Bartercard-McDonald's VFL Player of the Year award.
For the third time in the Devils' past four games, Callinan took out the top vote of five in the side's courageous away win over Sandringham on Sunday.
He has now jumped to 57 votes to give him a six-vote lead over forward Ken Hall (52), followed by midfielder Matthew Geappen (51) and captain Ben Beams (47).
Hall, who kicked a game-high four goals, picked up four votes, as did Beams, Geappen, Ben Atkin and Travis Ronaldson.
It was indicative of the evenness of the Devils' performance in the very windy conditions that 16 players polled three or more votes.
The winner of the award at the end of the season will receive $1000, plus a 120cm rear-projection television set valued at $4000.
ROUND 16 VOTES
5 - I. Callinan
4 - M. Geappen, K. Hall, B. Atkin, T. Ronaldson, B. Beams
3 - M. Jovanovic, N. Street, B. Geappen, B. Robinson, K. Heazlewood, J. Plapp, L. Shackleton, N. Grima, S. Lonergan, N. Henley
2 - M. Johnson, B. Savage, L. Walker, T. Grima, S. Stephens, S.
Wager
VOTE LEADERS
57 - I. Callinan
52 - K. Hall
51 - M. Geappen
47 - B. Beams
42 - T. Ronaldson
39 - B. Atkin
38 - N. Grima
Last Modified on 26/07/2005 08:52