Sam Collins this year was labelled “the Jeremy McGovern of the VFL”.

It is a massive thing to compare the 14-game Fremantle defender and Gold Coast newcomer with the West Coast premiership hero and three-time All-Australian, but Fox Footy journalist Josh Gabelich made a compelling case. 

He pointed to the fact that Collins was easily the highest-ranked defender in the VFL in terms of average ranking points (126) in 2018, and ranked No.1 among defenders for marks (10.6 per game), intercept marks (6.4), intercept possessions (11.9) and contested possessions (10.8).

More telling was the fact that Collins took 111 intercept marks in 18 games in the VFL this season. 

To put that into perspective, the AFL record for most intercept marks in a home-and-way season is 75 to the credit of McGovern and Western Bulldogs skipper Easton Wood.

And it wasn’t a one-season wonder from Collins – he had 81 intercept marks in 17 games playing with Peel Thunder in the WAFL in 2017, when he won the Peel B&F award in a premiership side and was selected in the WAFL Team of the Year.

Little wonder then that veteran Werribee coach and former North Melbourne development coach John Lamont insists Collins has the goods to make the most of his second AFL chance with the SUNS.

“He looked like an AFL player playing VFL footy this year,” said Lamont at the end of the VFL season.

“He is an under-rated player at ground level for a bigger bloke, he keeps his feet well, he uses his body well, he doesn’t go to ground, he is one touch, and he makes good decisions with the ball,” Lamont said of the 194cm 24-year-old.

“Then there is the stuff in the air where he definitely looked like a player that should have got another opportunity at the higher level.”

Lamont acknowledged the knock on Collins when he was delisted by Fremantle in 2017 was kicking.

“We’ve done a little bit of work on that and simplified things, and I think as the year went on he’s got better and better with his kicking and his decision-making,” Lamont said.

Collins, originally from suburban Donvale east of Melbourne, is a graduate of the prestigious Whitefriars College which counts among its alumni young NBA superstar Ben Simmons, tennis great Pat Cash, and, among a host of AFL stars, Essendon premiership hero and Team of the Century member Paul Van der Haar, ex-Carlton captain Marc Murphy, rising Melbourne star Christian Petracca and 359-game Fitzroy and North Melbourne star turned Sydney director of coaching John Blakey.

He played in the TAC Cup in 2012 with an Oakleigh Chargers side that included Melbourne captain Jack Viney and Western Bulldogs midfield ace Jack Macrae, and after missing out at the 2012 National Draft joined Box Hill in the VFL.

He was a member of the Box Hill leadership group from age 19, played in the 2014-15 VFL grand finals, and  after three outstanding years with the Hawks he finally got his AFL chance when chosen at selection #55 in a 2015 National Draft in which the SUNS picked up Callum Ah Chee (#8), Brayden Fiorini (#20), Josh Schoenfeld (#34) and Mackenzie Willis (#52).

After starting the 2017 season with Peel Thunder he made his AFL debut in Round 10 and in his second game in Round 11 against Essendon at Subiaco had 24 possessions (10 contested), 11 marks, two contested marks and nine one-percenters.

Often asked to play on much more senior opponents, he held his spot in the Fremantle side right through to Round 22, and dropped back to the WAFL in Round 23 to play a key role in Peel’s premiership triumph.

He was easily identified at the time – his quads are extra-extra-large and in an era where the norm was colourful boots, he stuck with black boots. 

To the surprise of many, he played only Round 12 and Round 23 in the AFL in 2017 despite his consistently outstanding form in the WAFL. 

He played his only game against the SUNS and his only game at Metricon Stadium in Round 18 2016, when Schoenfeld made his AFL debut in a 24-point SUNS win. He had 20 possessions.

As he prepares to head to the Gold Coast to re-start his AFL career and re-unite with former Dockers teammate Lachie Weller, Collins can find a good omen in the #40 jumper he wore at Fremantle. 

It was also worn by Matt de Boer who, after being delisted by Fremantle in 2016, was picked up in 2017 by the GWS Giants, where he has played five finals in two years and found himself in the leadership group in 2018.

Similarly, he can point to the likes of 2018 Geelong All-Australian Tom Stewart, Collingwood’s Brody Mihocek and Western Bulldogs strongman turned Brisbane signing Marcus Adams as defenders who have flourished in the AFL after being picked up as mature-age draftees out of State League football.