Sam Collins has been crowned the Gold Coast SUNS 2024 Club Champion after a stellar individual season by the key defender.
Collins finished the night on 68 votes ahead of runner-up Bodhi Uwland (56) and third-placed Sam Flanders (55).
In a tight vote count, just six votes separated third and sixth place in the battle for the podium, with Matt Rowell (54), Noah Anderson (50) and Mac Andrew (49) closely trailing Flanders.
The final result marks the second time Collins has been recognised as the SUNS’ best and fairest after also winning the Club Champion in 2020.
Collins had an outstanding season in defence, with the vice-captain leading the AFL in intercept possessions (8.3 per game) and also earning selection in the All Australian squad for the first time.
For Uwland and Flanders, it was the first time the pair had finished in the top three of the SUNS Club Champion.
Collins also claimed the newly named David Swallow Award, voted by the playing group as the most selfless and inspirational throughout the year.
Meanwhile Uwland claimed a second trophy as the HOSTPLUS Most Professional, and Mac Andrew won the People First Bank Emerging Player award.
After being nominated for the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award last week thanks to his commitment to breast cancer charity BCNA, Tom Berry was also honoured with the Jarrod Harbrow Community Award.
SUNS Academy prospect Leo Lombard was named the StreetSmarts Male Academy Player of the Year, while Hewago Oea claimed the VFL Player of the Year award.
Collins becomes the fourth player to win multiple SUNS Club Champion awards alongside Gary Ablett Jnr (four), Tom Lynch (two) and Touk Miller (two).
2024 GC SUNS Club Champion Top 10:
1st: Sam Collins (68)
2nd: Bodhi Uwland (56)
3rd: Sam Flanders (55)
4th: Matt Rowell (54)
5th: Noah Anderson (50)
6th: Mac Andrew (49)
7th: Wil Powell (43)
8th: Ben Long (39)
9th: Touk Miller (36)
10th: Jarrod Witts (35)
2024 Voting Process: Players are assessed on their performance by Gold Coast’s match committee, with all players receiving a rating from 0-5 for each game they play. The match committee make a joint decision on each player, meaning the maximum votes a player can receive in any match is five.
2024 GC SUNS Club Champion Awards:
Club Champion: Sam Collins
Club Champion Runner-Up: Bodhi Uwland
Club Champion Third Place: Sam Flanders
David Swallow Award: Sam Collins
People First Bank Emerging Player: Mac Andrew
HOSTPLUS Most Professional: Bodhi Uwland
Jarrod Harbrow Community Award: Tom Berry
SIXT Leading Goalkicker: Ben King
StreetSmarts Male Academy Player of the Year: Leo Lombard
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)
2023 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.
