Sydney Swans defender Dane Rampe has been acknowledged as the competition’s most courageous player at the AFL Players Association Awards.

Rampe was announced as the recipient of the Robert Rose Most Courageous Award in an online event conducted on Tuesday afternoon.

The Sydney Swans co-captain showed great courage during the 2020 season playing with a broken hand during Sydney’s campaign.

“It is pretty special, with these sorts of awards you judge your role in comparison to others and I draw inspiration from the players and staff at the club,” Rampe said upon accepting the award.

“Courage comes in all different shapes and forms, and some of the things that players face off field is as brave and courageous as going out to play every week.

“Thanks to all of my teammates and thank you to all of my peers who have voted for me – I am quiet taken aback by this award.”

Rampe suffered a fracture to his hand in Sydney’s Round 8 match against Hawthorn and had a metal plate inserted to repair the break before returning to play in Round 9 against St Kilda.

Following a best on ground performance against Greater Western Sydney in Round 12, Rampe experienced pain and swelling in his hand with precautionary scans revealing he had rebroken his hand and the previous repair had been dislodged.

The awards for Most Courageous, Best First Year Player, Best Captain and the MVP are voted on by all AFL players in 3-2-1 system.  Players are not permitted to vote for their own teammates, but for players at the 17 other clubs.

Rampe joins an illustrious list of gutsy players to have won the most courageous including Joel Selwood (Geelong), Jonathan Brown (Brisbane) and Glenn Archer (North Melbourne).

Sydney's own 'Captain Courageous' Paul Kelly won the award five times (1994-97, 2000), Brett Kirk was a co-winner in 2006, and Luke Parker has won the award on two occasions (2015 and 2016).