SUNS midfielder Ali Drennan has capped off a remarkably consistent individual season by winning her first ever Gold Coast SUNS AFLW Club Champion.
In one of the tightest vote counts in SUNS AFLW history, Drennan managed to clinch the award by a single vote, finishing with a total of 237 ahead of Runner-Up Charlie Rowbottom (236) and third-placed Jamie Stanton (218).
The 31-year-old played all 10 matches for the SUNS and was the club’s highest-averaging player for disposals this season, with 18 per game.
Drennan has taken her game to new levels since joining the SUNS at the end of 2020 from St Kilda.
Her best game this season came in Round 6 against Geelong where she amassed a career-high 30 disposals to go with five tackles and four marks.
In that match she also set the record for the most disposals in a game by a Gold Coast SUNS AFLW player.
Drennan, alongside Stanton, led a young SUNS midfield core in 2022 which included Rowbottom, Ellie Hampson and Claudia Whitfort.
Always having a reputation as a strong defensive midfielder through her tackling, Drennan was able to add more offensive flair to her game in 2022.
Her maiden Club Champion comes after a Runner-Up finish in the 2021 AFLW Club Champion.
The Club Champion Award was voted on by the AFLW coaching panel, with the Head Coach and three Assistant Coaches assigning players a score from one to 10 based on their efforts during each particular game. The maximum votes a player can receive from any one match is 40 votes.
2022 AFLW Club Champion Top 10:
- Ali Drennan (237)
- Charlie Rowbottom (236)
- Jamie Stanton (218)
- Daisy D’Arcy (201)
- Tara Bohanna (197)
- Claudia Whitfort (195)
- Kate Surman (193)
- Lauren Ahrens (190)
- Sarah Perkins (178)
- Lauren Bella (175)
