ITUMELENG KHUNE
If Itumeleng Khune's teammates at Kaizer Chiefs were equally consistent in their performances this season, their skipper's chances of being crowned the 2017-18 Absa Premiership Player of the Season would have been a forgone conclusion by now.
All season the Amakhosi goalkeeper has had to bail out his team in the face of defeats. That Chiefs count 11 of their 23 league matches as having ended in stalemates (seven of them 0-0), is due to Khune's shot-stopping instinct. He's conceded 15 goals this season.
It was only last week in their crushing 3-1 defeat against Orlando Pirates that Khune had let in more than two goals.
Khune's form saw him being the first to receive the league's Player of the Month award this season, earning it for August/September.
The award came at the back of three man-of-the-match accolades in matches against Cape Town City, Bidvest Wits and Maritzburg United in which Chiefs collected seven points.
Khune, 30, did produce more man-of-the-match heroics in November but it will be the results his team produce in their last seven matches that will determine his chances of winning this award for the second time after walking away with it in the 2012-13 season.
VERDICT
Khune's chances depend on the form of his main opponents, especially Percy Tau of Mamelodi Sundowns. If Tau continues in this vein and his team win the league, he will be the overwhelming favourite. But if for some strange reason Sundowns hit a poor patch right at the death, Khune might just have the last laugh.PERCY TAU
This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. - Psalm 118:24.
In South African footballing, the gospel as preached from the pulpit of pastor Pitso Mosimane, this is the season made for Percy Tau and Mamelodi Sundowns will rejoice and be glad to see him being crowned the finest footballer in the land for the 2017-18 season.
Tau's roar has reverberated from Mamelodi to Mgezankamba. The seven man-of-the-match accolades he has amassed are testament that his stature continues to grow as an influential figure of finesse.
He should be scaling the double digits in terms of a goal haul. True, scoring is an area of his game both he and Mosimane acknowledge needs improvement.
Still, such an indefatigable figure Tau is, he is breathing down Rodney Ramagalela's neck with nine goals to his name, one shy of the leading scorer from Polokwane City. The fact that advances are coming in thick and fast, from Denmark and Russia, confirms that the outside world is watching with keen interest.
The fact that Tau, 23, has become a target of absurdly rough tackles alludes to the danger, if not menace, he continues to be to defenders.
Still, he perseveres with a smile. Tau keeps roaring without any sign of fatigue. Hence the gospel according to Mosimane: this is the season made for Percy Tau and Sundowns will rejoice and be glad to see him being crowned the finest footballer in the land for the 2017-18 season.
VERDICT
The stage is set for Tau to grab the Footballer of the Season and the Player's Player of the Season gongs.LUVUYO MEMELA
After two fruitless seasons, his career was either going to heaven or to hell. Hell looked a likely destination, what with his bum on the bench far more than his feet on the ground.
Add injuries and this Sea Robber was facing only one direction: south. Oh how he has propelled himself from the periphery to prominence. The Soweto derby two-goal hero is having a rebirth, finding a new lease of life in the Micho and Mokwena swashbuckling Buccaneers.
The two goals against the archrivals was a repeat of the double that helped Bucs beat Baroka 3-1, taking his tally for the season to five goals and four assists.
Memela has been a show-stopper this season at a club where he spent more years on the sidelines; in January, the 30-year-old was rewarded with a contract extension to June 2019.
"I've had a tough time ... but if you love what you're doing you will not always look where you've been, but you can only appreciate what you have now and thank God for giving you strength," said Memela after the derby. He has contributed to the cause of turning around Pirates' fraught fortunes, so much so that Memela is among the three top performers at the club since January. He is at the forefront of the team's approach of pressing like demons, keeping the ball moving and not being one-dimensional. That's what his coaches have demanded of him.
VERDICT
Memela has used this campaign to revel under new coaches and adjusted to their way of working with immaculate ease. He has made people sit up and take notice of his talents but may have to settle for second best.RODNEY RAMAGALELA
When Rodney Ramagalela left Mamelodi Sundowns at the end of last season to join Polokwane City little did we expect to hear so much of his less-glamorous club.
But with Ramagalela regaining the scoring touch that saw him being signed by Sundowns in 2013 from Black Leopards, his name remains right up among the players who have impressed this season.
Ramagalela started this season on a flying note, scoring two goals against Sundowns when they won 2-1 away on August 22.
One of those goals was a half volley that was so sweet that it won Ramagalela the Goal of the Month award for August/September which he collected together with his Player of the Month award for October.
The 29-year-old City goal-poacher is still the league's leading scorer with 10 goals despite having hit a bit of a dry spell this year.
Ramagalela, who plays more as a second striker, underlined his value by not only scoring goals but also providing as many assists to his teammates.
After his exploits at the beginning of the season there were many who expected him to be drafted into the Bafana Bafana squad but when that call didn't come, Ramagalela was glad to tell his admirers to wait patiently for his day.
VERDICT
Ramagalela's consolation might be the Top Goal Scorer award as his performances have been overshadowed by his club fighting to survive relegation.
A top-eight finish and a few more goals might help push Ramagalela's name to the top prize. But again Tau and Khune's form might block his way...