Pendlebury received nine votes for his influential midfield display, his 24 disposals and three goals proving crucial as Collingwood secured a valuable four points against Richmond and closed in on a return to the top eight.
With his poise and class once again coming to the fore, Pendlebury’s performance once again emphasised the ease with which he has assumed Collingwood’s on-field leadership.
After 30 disposals and three goals, Beams was recognised as equal second best on ground in receiving seven votes, his dynamism and trademark attacking instincts on full display.
His lockdown performance on Trent Cotchin may have attracted headlines, but Macaffer’s discipline and defensive prowess was acknowledged by Nathan Buckley and Richmond’s Damian Hardwick, despite collecting only nine disposals.
Having assumed a defensive midfield role last season, Macaffer has collected an impressive series of scalps in that time, including Joel Selwood, Josh Kennedy and Nick Dal Santo.
Fellow midfielder Luke Ball collected four votes for a characteristically gritty display, laying eight tackles alongside his 22 possessions, while forward Jesse White received a single vote after leading the Magpie attack.
David Astbury was Richmond’s sole vote recipient with two.
While Selwood extended his advantage atop the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year leader board, Pendlebury moved into fifth place, one vote shy of equal second, which is currently occupied by Nick Riewoldt, Brendon Goddard and Gary Ablett.
Richmond v Collingwood
| Votes | Player | Club |
| 9 | Scott Pendlebury | Collingwood |
| 7 | Dayne Beams | Collingwood |
| 7 | Brent Macaffer | Collingwood |
| 4 | Luke Ball | Collingwood |
| 2 | David Astbury | Richmond |
| 1 | Jesse White | Collingwood |
Overall AFLCA Leaderboard (after four rounds)
| Votes | Player | Club |
| 34 | Joel Selwood | Geelong |
| 20 | Gary Ablett Junior | Gold Coast |
| 20 | Brendon Goddard | Essendon |
| 20 | Nick Riewoldt | St Kilda |
| 19 | Scott Pendlebury | Collingwood |
| 19 | Scott Thompson | North Melbourne |
| 18 | Ben Cunnington | North Melbourne |
| 18 | Nathan Jones | Melbourne |
| 18 | Sam Mitchell | Hawthorn |
| 17 | Steve Johnson | Geelong |
| 17 | Aaron Sandilands | Fremantle |
| 17 | Adam Treloar | Greater Western Sydney |
Collingwood Leaderboard (after four rounds)
| Player | Votes (matches polled in brackets) |
| Scott Pendlebury | 19 (2) |
| Dayne Beams | 12 (2) |
| Brent Macaffer | 7 (1) |
| Jamie Elliott | 6 (1) |
| Heritier Lumumba | 5 (1) |
| Luke Ball | 4 (1) |
| Jack Frost | 4 (1) |
| Ben Sinclair | 3 (1) |
| Nick Maxwell | 2 (1) |
| Jesse White | 1 (1) |
