Since his debut back in 2003, Daniel Wells has been criticised for underperforming but a stunning 2011 has proven his doubters wrong.

While some of his most dominant games seemed to go unnoticed by the umpires at the Brownlow Medal count on Monday night, the coaches certainly didn’t turn a blind eye.

Remarkably, Wells managed just five Brownlow votes and ranked outside the top 50. On Tuesday night at the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year, he finished ninth.

He sat in second place after round 17 and his brilliance has been further enhanced with the revelation he finished the season under significant strain due to a rare health condition. Despite the setback, he still earned best-on-ground honours in round 22 against the Dockers.

North will be sweating on the fitness of Wells in preparation for 2012, with the dynamic midfielder set to miss up to six months before resuming full-contact training.

Final Leaderboard for 2011
94 Marc Murphy (Carl)
90 Chris Judd (Carl)
87 Matthew Boyd (WB)
87 Sam Mitchell (Haw)
80 Gary Ablett (GC)
80 Dane Swan (Coll)
79 Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
74 Scott Thompson (Adel)
73 Daniel Wells (NM)
71 Trent Cotchin (Rich)