With six matches still remaining in the AFL home-and-away season, discussions have already started to arise among Lions fans surrounding the leading candidates for this year’s Merrett-Murray Medal.

The Merrett-Murray Medal, awarded to the Club’s Best and Fairest player, is voted on by the Lions’ Match Committee and awarded at the annual Club Champion dinner.

Pearce Hanley’s career-best 2013 campaign has been widely acknowledged throughout football circles, and has many people nominating him as the early favourite to take home the Club’s highest individual honour.

Hanley is a proven vote-getter, having finished fourth and third in each of the past two years, and has taken his game to a new level this season.

However, a broken hand suffered during last Saturday night’s win over Melbourne could hurt the Irishman’s chances.

The Merrett-Murray Medal rewards excellence, consistency and durability, with votes awarded to each player on a game-by-game basis.

This means that those who miss an extended period of time often have to make up considerable ground, and Hanley could face as many as four weeks on the sidelines with his latest injury.

Each of the players who filled the top six positions in 2012 played at least 20 senior games, while Dayne Zorko (16 games) and Simon Black (18) were the only members of top 10 who played less than 20.

So if Hanley was considered an early favourite for the honour, then perhaps the door has been left slightly ajar for one of the other leading candidates.

Among those would be ruckman Matthew Leuenberger who, despite missing two matches himself, has been one of the catalysts behind the Lions’ second-half resurgence.

Last year’s winner Joel Patfull continues to perform his role for the team each week with minimal fuss, and as one of only five players to have played in every match so far this season, would be a strong chance of back-to-back titles.

Jack Redden, Jed Adcock and Tom Rockliff are  no strangers to the Club Champion leader board and most would predict them to be thereabouts again at season’s end.

Brent Moloney and Mitch Golby have also been among the team’s most consistent performers this year, but will need to stay fit in the run home given they’ve both already missed three senior games.

Whichever way the season pans out, the 2013 Merrett-Murray Medal is still realistically within the grasp of more than a handful of Lions players.

Although the voting system is vastly different to that of the Merrett-Murray Medal, the Club's online Player of the Year provides a loose guide of who visitors to lions.com.au believe has been the Lions' most valuable player.  

And according to the votes cast by Lions fans each week, Hanley is currently the runaway leader, with Leuenberger and Moloney ranking second and third respectively.

The top 10 Player of the Year positions after Round 17 are listed below:

1. Pearce Hanley (1,685)
2. Matthew Leuenberger (1,014)
3. Brent Moloney (995)
4. Tom Rockliff (811)
5. Jack Redden (766)
6. Dayne Zorko (727)
7. Jonathan Brown (568)
8. Simon Black (541)
9. Daniel Rich (491)
10. Sam Mayes (485)