Ben Brown and Jarrad Waite were both among the coaches’ votes after big individual performances against Essendon on Saturday.

A six-goal haul saw Brown rewarded with seven votes, only bettered by the Bombers’ Zach Merrett, who received nine.

North’s number 20 took 9 marks, 5 of which were contested, had 13 disposals and kicked 6.2.

Brown has closed the gap on Shaun Higgins in second place on the North leaderboard, with Ben Cunnington still the clear leader. 

After two weeks on the sidelines, Waite made a strong return, with 14 touches, 8 marks and 4 goals to form a lethal combination with Brown.

North v Essendon votes

9 Zach Merrett (Ess)
7 Ben Brown (NM)
7 Dyson Heppell (Ess)
4 Cale Hooker (Ess)
3 Jarrad Waite (NM)

North leaderboard

40 Ben Cunnington
32 Shaun Higgins
31 Ben Brown
17 Jarrad Waite
11 Jack Ziebell

AFL leaderboard

92 Dustin Martin (Rich)
91 Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)
69 Tom Mitchell (Haw)
67 Zach Merrett (Ess)
66 Dayne Zorko (BL)
62 Rory Sloane (Adel)
61 Gary Ablett (GC)
59 Joel Selwood (Geel)
58 Sebastian Ross (StK)
57 Elliot Yeo (WC)