The fans have spoken, and as voted by you, Nicholas Hind is the Round 9 Dare Iced Coffee Sainter of the Round.
Hind was at his energetic best as part of the Saints’ attack on Saturday night, jagging three sensational majors to play a decisive hand in guiding the red, white and black to its 53-point win over Sydney.
The zippy forward’s terrific crumbing and dash inside-50 fast turned him into priority No. 1 for the Swans, particularly after he slotted a crucial major in the shadows of three-quarter time to undo their threatening resurgence.
Hind’s constant danger inside the arc proved to be just as influential, with the mature-age recruit notching up four ground ball gets and four tackles inside-50 to go alongside his 16 touches (nine contested).
Since returning to the senior line-up against Port Adelaide, the St Kilda speedster has thrived in the harrowing, small forward fleet alongside Dan Butler.
Two votes go to Jack Steele, who pieced together another brilliant display on the inside.
Steele closed out his evening with 23 disposals (nine contested), eight inside-50s and six tackles to carry on his superb run of form while unshackled from his tagging duties.
The 24-year-old now moves to equal-second in the AFL Coaches’ Association votes, with his seven-vote outing moving him to equal-second with Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak.
It's the eighth time Steele has polled; the most of any player in this season.
Steele also sits three clear on the Dare Iced Coffee Sainter of the Round leaderboard after polling in five of the Saints’ 2020 matches, including two maximum-vote performances against Carlton and Adelaide.
Rounding out this week’s voting is Jade Gresham, whose frenetic energy through the midfield has resulted in an influential sequence of games for the permanent on-baller.
Gresham chalked up 23 disposals (10 contested), six clearances and an impressive 423 metres gained to spark the Saints all throughout the match, with his two goals out the back adding to his dangerous affair.
The No. 4 has featured in the top-three of St Kilda’s clearances seven times following the season restart and was rewarded for Saturday’s efforts with seven AFL Coaches’ Association votes.
St Kilda will face Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium this Thursday night in the hopes of securing its fourth consecutive win.
AFL Coaches’ Association votes
Round 9 St Kilda v Sydney
8 – Zak Jones
7 – Jade Gresham
7 – Jack Steele
6 – Nicholas Hind
1 – Hunter Clark
1 – Luke Parker (SYD)
