Noah Anderson has won his first Gold Coast SUNS Club Champion in Sunday night’s official vote count at The Star Gold Coast.
Anderson finished the night on 590 votes ahead of runner up Sam Collins (563 votes) and third-placed Matt Rowell (559 votes).
Anderson has elevated his game to a new level, averaging 26.9 disposals, 6.4 clearances, 4.5 marks and 3.4 tackles per game, while also booting a career-high 14 goals.
The 22-year-old’s best individual performance came in Round 8 against Melbourne when Anderson accumulated 37 disposals, 10 clearances, six tackles and a goal.
Collins finishes as runner-up after previously winning the Club Champion in 2020.
The SUNS vice-captain has compiled another consistent AFL campaign, playing all 23 matches as the club’s number one key defender taking on the best key forwards in the competition.
In a career-best year, Rowell finished first in the AFL for pressure acts, second for contested possessions and clearances, while also breaking the AFL’s all-time tackle record in the home and away season.
The result is Rowell’s first top-three finish in the Gold Coast SUNS Club Champion.
Earlier in the night Rowell also claimed the coveted Players’ Player award, while Sam Flanders was named the Heritage Bank Emerging Player, Levi Casboult the HOSTPLUS Most Professional and Brodie McLaughlin won the Jarrod Harbrow Community Award.
Tony Cochrane AM, Sam Day and Rory Thompson had their contributions to the SUNS recognised on the night with induction as Life Members of the Gold Coast Football Club.
Jed Walter and Kiara Bischa were presented as the male and female Academy Player of the Year.
Anderson joins illustrious company as a Club Champion winner alongside Gary Ablett (four) Touk Miller (two), Tom Lynch (two), Sam Collins, Jarrod Witts, Jarrod Harbrow and David Swallow.
2023 GC SUNS Club Champion Top 10:
1st: Noah Anderson (590)
2nd: Sam Collins (563
3rd: Matt Rowell (559)
4th: Charlie Ballard (453)
5th: Jarrod Witts (451)
6th: Jack Lukosius (442)
7th: Darcy Macpherson (436)
8th: David Swallow (434)
9th: Wil Powell (391)
10th: Ben Ainsworth (361)
Voting Process: Gold Coast's four-person match committee award votes to an unlimited number of players per match. The voting process allows each player to receive a maximum of ten votes from each individual member of the match committee, meaning the maximum number of votes a player can receive for any match is 40.
2023 GC SUNS Club Champion Awards:
- Club Champion: Noah Anderson
- Club Champion Runner-Up: Sam Collins
- Club Champion Third Place: Matt Rowell
- Players’ Player: Matt Rowell
- Heritage Bank Emerging Player: Sam Flanders
- HOSTPLUS Most Professional: Levi Casboult
- Life Membership: Sam Day, Tony Cochrane & Rory Thompson
- Jarrod Harbrow Community Award: Brodie McLaughlin
- SIXT Leading Goalkicker: Ben King
- Academy Players of the Year: Jed Walter & Kiara Bischa
2022 GC SUNS Club Champion Top 10:
1st: Touk Miller (566)
2nd: Noah Anderson (504)
3rd: David Swallow (479)
4th: Jarrod Witts (474)
5th: Sam Collins (440)
6th: Matthew Rowell (429)
7th: Ben Ainsworth (428)
8th: Brandon Ellis (364)
9th: Nick Holman (349)
10th: Izak Rankine (331)
