The added responsibility of club captaincy has done little to quell Andrew Swallow’s effectiveness as a player; in fact it could be argued his game has improved even further since taking on the lead role at the start of the year.

Swallow was awarded eight votes by Brad Scott and Matthew Primus for his 28 possession and 12 tackles against the Power, and has been among the best as adjudged by the coaches on five occasions in eight rounds.

The number nine’s statistics speak volumes of his importance to the team. He sits top among North Melbourne’s players for total disposals (220 at 27.5 per game), contested possessions (106 at 13.3), clearances (61 at 7.6) and tackles (52 at 6.5). Dream Team fans would be interested to know he’s also the club’s leading fantasy scorer (825 points at 103.1).

With 26 votes, Swallow has now passed Ryan Bastinac on the AFLCA Champion Player leaderboard as the Kangaroos’ number one.

Daniel Wells is another to move up in the rankings after he polled six votes. The dynamic midfielder amassed 26 possessions and kicked two quality goals on Saturday.

Also among the best on the day was Drew Petrie. A five-goal haul was enough to earn Petrie his first votes of the season.

Port Adelaide vs North Melbourne
10 - Jay Schulz
8 - Andrew Swallow
6 - Daniel Wells
4 - Drew Petrie
2 - Danyle Pearce

North Melbourne leaderboard
26 - Andrew Swallow
19 - Ryan Bastinac
16 - Daniel Wells
13 - Brent Harvey
9 - Jack Ziebell
4 - Drew Petrie
4 - Liam Anthony
4 - Michael Firrito
3 - Aaron Edwards
3 - Jamie Macmillan
3 - Lindsay Thomas
3 - Scott Thompson
1 - Leigh Adams
1 - Ben Cunnington

North Melbourne v Brisbane Lions
Sunday 27th May, 1.10pm EST
Etihad Stadium