Aaron Hall started 2016 in blistering fashion with a best-on-ground performance in Gold Coast’s round one win over Essendon, finishing with a game-high 36 disposals, nine inside 50s and two goals.
Hall’s stocks continued to rise from there with 32 disposals and 11 marks in round two against Carlton, followed by a career-high 40 disposals in the round three win over Fremantle to propel himself into Brownlow Medal water cooler conversations early in the season.
After three rounds, the Tasmanian led the AFL in disposals (108) and metres gained (1994m) and looked certain to earn the ‘elite midfielder’ tag he’d been desperately chasing since moving into the engine room in mid-2015.
Although the SUNS’ struggles following the opening three rounds are well documented, Hall continued to be prolific in the midfield with just one sub-25 disposal game in the opening eight rounds.
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However, Hall would miss his team’s round nine game against Adelaide with a shoulder injury and subsequently struggled upon his return, clearly hampered by the persistent niggle that kept him to 20 touches in round 10 against West Coast and 19 the following week against Sydney.
The 25-year-old’s season hit a low-point ahead of the round 12 clash against Richmond when he was dropped to the NEAFL to correct certain parts of his game. But to Hall’s credit, he bounced back strongly, finishing the year with six consecutive 25-plus disposal games despite missing a three-game stretch with a hamstring injury.
“He picked up where he left off the previous year,” assistant coach Matthew Primus told goldcoastfc.com.au.
“He was able to win the ball himself, find enough of that. Carry it and drive it really long in our forward 50. He became a bit of a game breaker for us because he can really carry the ball with his metres gained. He’s a nice kick, he’s having plenty of shots on goal.
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“He probably wavered a little bit during the middle part of the year when he just didn’t have the other support around him as all good midfielders need and then he had a bit of a shoulder issue, got dropped to the NEAFL but fought back really well from that and finished off the year on a pretty solid note.
“He’s got some areas to work on but he’s still a good weapon for us. Offensively he’s a terrific player and hopefully he has another pre-season and another season of playing in the midfield and he’ll continue to grow in that area.”
Hall played just 17 games in 2016 but led his team in total disposals (473) at an average of 27.8 per game and metres gained (average of 541.7 per game). The talented accumulator will no doubt be looking to take his game to another level in 2017 with a full complement of midfielders around him.
