There is no denying Lance Franklin is one of a kind, but he proved it three times this season.

As the Swans celebrated the 2018 AFL season with the Bob Skilton Medal vote-count last night Franklin was shown to have played three perfect games.

In a staggering performance, the mercurial Franklin polled the maximum 50 votes from the voting panel in Rounds 1, 20 and 22.

Ben Ronke, too, was credited with a perfect game against Hawthorn at the MCG in Round 8 under a voting system whereby five members of the coaching panel rated each player to a maximum of 10 votes in each game. 

Round 1 – Lance Franklin 50 votes
The Swans opened the season and the new Perth Stadium with a 29-point win over eventual premiers West Coast. Franklin kicked a season-high eight goals in a superb individual performance finishing with 8.1 from 21 possessions, nine marks, three contested marks and five marks inside 50.

Round 8 – Ben Ronke 50 votes
Ronke played just his third game against Hawthorn in Round 8 and his first at the MCG. Incredibly, he  kicked seven of the Swans’ 12 goals in an eight-point Swans win. He also had 10 tackles to become the first player in AFL history to kicked seven goals and have 10 tackles in the same game.

Round 20 – Lance Franklin  50 votes
The Swans faced a critical game against Collingwood at the SCG after back-to-back losses. Needing to win to stay in the finals race, they came from 17 points down at halftime to win by two after a freakish late goal from Tom McCartin as he lay on the ground. Franklin kicked 6-4 from 17 possessions to go with six tackles, three contested marks and six marks inside 50. It was an amazing victory inspired by Alex Johnson's first game in 2136 days.

Round 20 – Lance Franklin – 50 votes
Facing the GWS Giants at Sydney Showgrounds, the Swans completed a magnificent three-week charge to lock up a finals berth, coming from 20 points down late in the third quarter to win by 20 points and make a clean sweep of the Sydney derby. Franklin kicked 5.4 from 16 possessions (14 contested possessions), five contested marks and four marks inside 50.

Other individual performances rated among the top 10 according to the Swans Club Champion votes in 2018 were:

Round 9 – Jake Lloyd & Jarrad McVeigh – 42 votes
The Swans celebrate the 200th Swans games of Nick Smith and Josh Kennedy with a typically clinic 59-point win over Fremantle at the SCG. Lloyd had a career-best 41 possessions to share best afield honours with McVeigh, who had a season-high 31 possessions.

Round 6 -  Josh Kennedy and Callum Sinclair – 42 votes
In one of the great wins, Sydney, without Lance Franklin, more than doubled their score in the fourth quarter to come from 22 points down at three-quarter time, scoring 7.4 to 1.1 at the 'Cattery'.  Josh Kennedy led the way in brilliant fashion with 33 possessions (17 contested) and a season-high 13 clearances, while Sinclair had 18 possessions (season-high 14 contested), 39 hit-outs and four clearances.

Round 17 – Ben Ronke – 42 votes
It was a super-brave six-point Sydney win against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium. An already depleted Swans side lost Josh Kennedy before halftime, were 11 points down at three-quarter time and seven points down going into time-on in the final term. Ronke goalled to pull the visitors within striking distance before Aliir Aliir snuck forward to his first AFL goal 60 seconds from full time. Lance Franklin became the ninth player in history to kick 900 goals but Ronke took the votes from the coaches after 16 possessions and five goals.

Seven Swans players also polled 40 votes in a game this season – Franklin and Sinclair against GWS in Round 3, George Hewett in Round 10  against Brisbane and Round 23 against Hawthorn, Kennedy in Round 15 against Richmond, Isaac Heeney in Round 20 against Collingwood and Luke Parker in Round 22 against GWS.

TOP FIVE RANKINGS -  ROUND BY ROUND
Parker was ranked among the best five Swans players 12 times this season – he was rated best (including ties) three times, second-best five times, third-best twice, and fourth and fifth best once each.