2017 AFL Rising Star

The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. An eligible player is nominated for the award each round during the AFL's regular season, and a panel of experts votes for the winner at the end of the season.^[2]

2017 AFL Rising Star
Andrew McGrath, 2017 winner[1]
Sponsored by	National Australia Bank
Date	1 September 2017
Country	Australia
Ron Evans medallist	Andrew McGrath (Essendon)
Television/radio coverage
Network	Fox Footy
← 2016 · AFL Rising Star · 2018 →

During the 2017 season, the award was sponsored by National Australia Bank, and the winner announced in a presentation held on 1 September 2017 and broadcast on subscription television by Fox Footy.^[3][4] The voting panel for this season consisted of eleven members, all of whom were AFL officials or former players: Kevin Bartlett, Luke Darcy, Andrew Dillon, Danny Frawley, Glen Jakovich, Chris Johnson, Cameron Ling, Gillon McLachlan, Matthew Richardson, Warren Tredrea and Kevin Sheehan.^[5] The winner was Essendon player Andrew McGrath, who polled 51 votes.^[1] McGrath became only the third number-one draft pick to win the award, and the second Essendon recipient.^[5]

The club that garnered the most individual nominations this season was Carlton with five players nominated for the award.^[6] This was a club record and the equal-second most nominations a club has garnered in an individual season, behind Greater Western Sydney's eight nominations in the 2012 season.^[7][8] Brisbane Lions player Alex Witherden, who received a nomination in round 17, was nominated for the award again in the 2018 season—becoming the eleventh player ever to be nominated twice for a Rising Star award.^[9]

Nominations

Ryan Burton finished second in the final voting for the season's award, with 41 votes.^[5]

Charlie Curnow was one of five Carlton players to be nominated for the Rising Star in 2017.^[6]

Alex Witherden, who received a nomination in round 17, was also nominated for the award in the 2018 season.^[9]

Table of nominees

Player	Round	Club	Ref.
Sam Powell-Pepper	1	Port Adelaide	[10]
Ryan Burton	2	Hawthorn	[11]
Brandan Parfitt	3	Geelong	[12]
Andrew McGrath	4	Essendon	[13]
Eric Hipwood	5	Brisbane Lions	[14]
Caleb Marchbank	6	Carlton	[15]
Sam Petrevski-Seton	7	Carlton	[16]
Tim Taranto	8	Greater Western Sydney	[17]
Tom Phillips	9	Collingwood	[18]
Wayne Milera	10	Adelaide	[19]
Dan Butler	11	Richmond	[20]
David Cuningham	12	Carlton	[21]
Jack Silvagni	13	Carlton	[22]
Hugh McCluggage	14	Brisbane Lions	[23]
Blake Hardwick	15	Hawthorn	[24]
Charlie Curnow	16	Carlton	[25]
Alex Witherden	17	Brisbane Lions	[26]
Lewis Melican	18	Sydney	[27]
Jason Castagna	19	Richmond	[28]
Luke Ryan	20	Fremantle	[29]
Dan Houston	21	Port Adelaide	[30]
Ben Ainsworth	22	Gold Coast	[31]
Will Hayward	23	Sydney	[32]

Final voting

Table of votes^[5]

Player	Rank	Club	Votes
Andrew McGrath	1	Essendon	51
Ryan Burton	2	Hawthorn	41
Sam Powell-Pepper	3	Port Adelaide	35
Charlie Curnow	4	Carlton	27
Eric Hipwood	5	Brisbane Lions	6
Sam Petrevski-Seton	6	Carlton	3
Lewis Melican	7	Sydney	1
Tom Phillips		Collingwood	1

See also

• 2017 AFL Women's Rising Star