After a slow start to the season, made worse by a controversial three-match suspension, Gold Coast key defender Steven May recaptured his 2014 form to storm home and finish third behind Tom Lynch and Kade Kolodjashnij in the SUNS Club Champion on Friday night.
 
The 23-year-old was hindered early in the year by an injury-interrupted pre-season, but once he clicked into gear and built some continuity into his game, May established himself as one of the premier backmen in the competition.
 
The Northern Territorian’s back half of the year was as good as anyone’s inside Metricon Stadium, with May beating a plethora of the best forwards in the competition despite Gold Coast missing a first-choice midfield which made the going even tougher for the back six.
 
May admitted that 2015 was difficult to endure, but it was a year Rodney Eade’s men can use as a building block to set up sustained future success moving forward.
 
“I was very humbled. I didn’t expect to finish that high, but I’ll take that. It’s (been) a tough year. It’s something to salvage from the year I suppose,” May told SUNS TV after Friday night’s Club Champion count.
 
“We’ve had a tough year of learning, of building resilience, but now we’re ready to take the next step. After a good break and back for the pre-season I think the boys are going to tear in for a good year.”
 
As May began to accumulate scalps like a bounty hunter, the calls for him to be considered for All Australian selection began to grow louder. After returning from suspension in round nine, May accounted for Jarryd Roughead (round nine), Drew Petrie (round 14), Jeremy Cameron (round 15), Taylor Walker (round 17), Josh Kennedy (round 18), Jack Riewoldt (round 20) and Lance Franklin (round 23). Not a bad collection by anyone’s measurements.
 
Given the fact he didn’t start with the same standard as he finished with, and he missed those three games for a bump on Tom Rockliff, it was unsurprising to see him left out of the All Australian squad last week.
 
But despite his omission, there is little doubt he is now entrenched in the same bracket as Alex Rance, Michael Hurley, Daniel Talia and Jeremy McGovern. And an accolade like that is a source of motivation for the ambitious defender who looks at home on the biggest names in the game, but knows he must become more consistent and more damaging offensively to take that next step.
 
“I’m defending alright. I think I’ve got to start getting involved more offensively. Maybe taking some more marks – I think be (more) consistent.
 
“I didn’t poll any votes until after round six or seven and then I got suspended. You know that’s nine weeks of missing footy and that’s also nine weeks of missing All Australian contention.
 
“Even to be mentioned with those boys, that’s a win for me. I’m going into the pre-season going wow these guys are mentioning me in the All Australian bracket – I would never have thought that.
 
“That’s another bit of motivation for me going into next year as we make finals and we play well, that can only help propel myself into the next stratosphere of defenders with the [Alex] Rance’s, Harry Taylor and Michael Hurley’s.
 
May’s list of 2015 scalps is as good as any collected by a defender this year. All Australian’s, Coleman medallist's, bona fide superstars. But the performance that is most satisfying for the Melbourne Grammar product was his demolition of this year’s Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy.
 
“It probably was West Coast with Josh Kennedy. He did kick two goals but one of them was a freakish one-handed mark that I just had to applaud,” May said.
 
“I think the fact that they have the best midfield, they’re probably one of the premiership favourites and we were able to take them to a draw and I was able to do a job on Josh Kennedy.
 
“I think all up as a team effort, that was probably my highlight of the year.”