A PLAYER from every club has been nominated for the AFL Players’ Association’s best first-year player award.

Eighteen players were unveiled as nominees on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the AFLPA’s MVP Awards, which will be held on Tuesday September 12.

The best first-year player award, which has been given out since 1998, is awarded to the best player in his first year on an AFL list by his peers.

It’s why mature-age recruits such as Melbourne’s Mitch Hannan and Geelong’s Tom Stewart — who both became mainstays of their respective clubs’ best 22 in 2017 — have been nominated for the award.

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Rising Star favourites Andrew McGrath and Sam Powell-Pepper are among the 18 nominations.

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The criteria isn’t as strict as the celebrated Rising Star award, which can be only be won by players who haven’t played 10 games before Round 1 and are under 21-years-old before January 1.

Port Adelaide’s Nick Stevens was the first recipient of the award in 1998.

which can be won by any player aged under 21 on January 1 of that year, and who has not played more than ten matches before the start of the season

Three clubs have produced multiple best first-year player winners over the past 19 years, with Fremantle and Sydney leading the way with three recipients.

2017’S NOMINEES FOR THE BEST FIRST-YEAR PLAYER AWARD:

Adelaide: Jordan Gallucci

Brisbane Lions: Alex Witherden

Carlton: Sam Petrevski-Seton

Collingwood: Callum Brown

Essendon: Andrew McGrath

Fremantle: Luke Ryan

Geelong: Tom Stewart

Gold Coast Suns: Ben Ainsworth

GWS Giants: Tim Taranto

Hawthorn: James Cousins

Melbourne: Mitch Hannan

North Melbourne: Jy Simpkin

Port Adelaide: Sam Powell-Pepper

Richmond: Shai Bolton

St Kilda: Rowan Marshall

Sydney: Will Hayward

West Coast: Francis Watson

Western Bulldogs: Lewis Young

Geelong's Tom Stewart has had a fantastic debut season. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: News Corp Australia

PAST WINNERS

1998: Nick Stevens (Port Adelaide)

1999: Adam Goodes (Sydney Swans)

2000: Paul Hasleby (Fremantle)

2001: Daniel Kerr (West Coast Eagles)

2002: Chris Judd (West Coast Eagles)

2003: Daniel Wells (North Melbourne)

2004: Aaron Davey (Melbourne)

2005: Brett Deledio (Richmond)

2006: Marc Murphy (Carlton)

2007: Joel Selwood (Geelong)

2008: Rhys Palmer (Fremantle)

2009: Daniel Rich (Brisbane Lions)

2010: Michael Barlow (Fremantle)

2011: Dyson Heppell (Essendon)

2012: Jeremy Cameron (GWS Giants)

2013: Jaeger O’Meara (Gold Coast Suns)

2014: Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)

2015: Isaac Heeney (Sydney Swans)

2016: Callum Mills (Sydney Swans)

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