RORY Sloane is the Adelaide Football Club’s best — and most consistent — player.

This formal declaration comes with his second Malcolm Blight Medal as Crows club champion on Friday night after a tense battle for votes with leading goalkicker Eddie Betts.

Sloane donned his second gold jacket — after previously wearing the Malcolm Blight Medal in 2013 — by polling 268 votes from 23 games.

He finished the count with a 19-point buffer on Betts, who earnt 249 votes from his 24 matches this season.

Sloane’s career-best season puts the All-Australian vice-captain among Adelaide greats as the sixth Crow to win multiple club championships (along with Brownlow medallist Mark Ricciuto, Andrew McLeod, former captain Simon Goodwin, Ben Hart and Scott Thompson).

The black-tie count at the Adelaide Convention Centre was ultimately a Sloane v Betts race that highlighted their high value to the Crows team system.

Both Sloane and Betts polled votes in every match they played this season.

Sloane, a first-time All-Australian midfielder, missed one game (the Round 23 home loss to West Coast) through suspension.

Betts, an All-Australian in the past two seasons, was Adelaide’s stand-alone best player six times, including in the second derby against Port Adelaide in which midfielder Matt Crouch was the Showdown Medallist.

Sloane was the stand-alone best player four times.

Twice — against Sydney in Round 4 and West Coast in Round 12 — the Crows coaches rated both Sloane and Betts as best-afield for Adelaide.

Betts’ consolation — after a career-best 75 goals in his third season at Adelaide after moving from Carlton — is in accepting the second Phil Walsh trophy as the Crows’ best team man.

No Adelaide player had the perfect game that would have been recognised with 20 votes — best-afield four votes from each of the five coaches. But Betts and Sloane did come close — as did key forward Josh Jenkins — by polling 19 votes. Sloane did this once (against Sydney in Round 4); Betts twice (also against Sydney in Round 4 and with his six goals against North Melbourne in the elimination final) and Jenkins twice (Round 7 against the Western Bulldogs and Round 11 against St Kilda).

Adelaide’s voting system has each coach — Don Pyke (senior), David Teague (forwards), James Podsiadly (defence), Scott Camporeale and Matthew Clarke (midfield) — assess each player on a 0-4 scale. The criteria is four votes for playing a role outstandingly and dominating; three for playing very well with significant influence; two for playing well and influencing the game and one vote for a solid game without significant influence.

The final leaderboard accurately reflected Adelaide’s major players this season — Sloane, Betts, All-Australian nominee Tom Lynch in third place (215 votes) and All-Australian defender Daniel Talia (192) in fourth position.

All of Adelaide’s six All-Australian nominees except small defender Rory Laird is in the top-10 of the club champion vote.

The surprise top-10 placing is with tall defender Kyle Hartigan in eighth spot with 173 votes.

Most popular was young defender Jake Lever being acknowledged with the Mark Bickley award for the best emerging talent.

Crows at their best and fairest

Adelaide’s SANFL club champion award was won by forward Jono Beech in an upset considering the reviews of contracted midfielder Cam Ellis-Yolmen’s work in the state league.

MALCOLM BLIGHT MEDAL

1 Rory Sloane 268

2 Eddie Betts 249

3 Tom Lynch 215

4 Daniel Talia 192

5 Taylor Walker 185

6 Brodie Smith 183

7 Matt Crouch 180

8 Kyle Hartigan 173

9 Charlie Cameron 168

10 Josh Jenkins 167