Tom Papley, Luke Parker and Dane Rampe have been nominated for the AFL Players Association Most Valuable Player Award.

The trio have been voted as the most influential by their teammates and will now battle it out against 54 players from across the competition who have been nominated for the award.

Nominations for the MVP award is a two-stage process – the first is players nominate three teammates for the award, the second is three nominations from each club are presented to the wider playing group for a final vote on the winner.

Players are not allowed to vote for teammates during the second stage of the process.

An impressive first season at AFL level for Dylan Stephens has seen him nominated among the best crop of youngsters in the game for the Best First Year Player award, previously won by Isaac Heeney and Callum Mills.

Rampe’s inspirational performance this season to play on with a broken hand has been recognised by his peers with a nomination as the Most Courageous player in the competition.

All three Sydney Swans co-captains have also been nominated for the Best Captain award.

The Leigh Matthews Trophy for the AFLPA MVP has been won by the Swans just once previously when Gerrard Healy took out the honour following his standout 1988 season.

The AFL Players’ Association will award the winners next week, with a digital coverage across AFLPA channels.

MVP nominees: Tom Papley, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe
Most Courageous: Dane Rampe
Best First Year Player: Dylan Stephens
Best Captain: Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe