Lachie Neale has won the first award of Doig Medal night, taking out the McDonald’s Freo Fans’ Most Valuable Player on the Purple Carpet at Crown Perth.

Neale, who broke Western Bulldog’s Matthew Boyd’s possession record of 721 in a regular season, was selected in the top three in 16 of 22 games this season.

After every game, fans allocate their top three players votes of 3, 2 and 1, which is then tallied up and divided into a percentage of total votes received.

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There are 100 points available per round, so each player who received fan votes receives their percentage of points.

So, if Matthew Pavlich receives 600 votes out of a total of 1200, he would have received 50-per-cent of the votes and thus 50 points is added to his total.

If Michael Walters receives 200 votes in the same game, he is allocated 16.7 per-cent and thus 17 points to his tally.

The award was presented by Adam Passanisi, who said he was thrilled to be able to meet the midfielder.

“I’m a big fan of Lachie, watching him play over the years, so it was good to meet the man and present him with the award,” he said.

Neale beat Michael Walters and Stephen Hill to the award, as the fans rewarded his excellent form throughout the season.

It is Neale’s first McDonald’s Freo Fans’ MVP award.