Geelong star and red-hot Brownlow Medal favourite Patrick Dangerfield has dominated voting for the AFL Players’ Association’s (AFLPA) Most Valuable Player award.

Dangerfield won his first Leigh Matthews Trophy with a whopping 1369 votes.

His former Adelaide team-mate Rory Sloane was well off the pace in second place with 443 votes, while Richmond midfielder Dustin Martin was third with 297.

Current players vote on the award.

The margin is similar to last year, when Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe won with 1455 and went on to take out the Brownlow Medal.

Last year, North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein was runner-up on 578 and Dangerfield (364) was third.

Dangerfield took his game to a new level after making the high-profile move late last year from the Crows to the Cats.

He is hotly-favoured to become only the ninth player to win the MVP award and the Brownlow Medal in the same season.

Apart from Fyfe last year, among current players to achieve the feat Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett did so in 2009 and 2013.

“It’s not going to help us win, so if it’s not going to help us win, then it’s not something I’m concerned about,” Dangerfield said of the Brownlow Medal after his MVP award win.

“The longer you play, the more you understand just how rare finals are.

“This is my ninth season, I’ve played in one preliminary before and I hated that feeling of losing it.”

“I don’t want to be there again.”

Dangerfield focused on Cats’ prelim final

Last Friday night’s epic qualifying final win over Hawthorn means Dangerfield and his Cats team-mates have the week off.

They will face the winner of Saturday’s SCG semi-final between Sydney and the Crows in a preliminary final, with the winner going through to the grand final.

Dangerfield is unconcerned about another bye week, saying it would not excuse a preliminary final loss.

“If you can’t get yourself up for a preliminary final, I don’t think you ever will,” he said.

Also on Tuesday night, Sydney’s Luke Parker won the Robert Rose award as the league’s most courageous player for the second-straight season.

Sydney’s Rising Star winner Callum Mills took out the AFLPA’s best first-year player award, while Adelaide’s Taylor Walker was named best captain.

Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli was named captain of the AFLPA’s under 22 team for the season.