Next weeks Rising Star awards at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium will have a strong Gold Coast SUNS flavour.
The GC SUNS have four players nominated for the award, an AFL record in any one year.
Brandon Matera, Zac Smith, David Swallow and Trent McKenzie have all been nominated for the award, each with the chance to win the Gold Coast SUNS first individual player award.
NAB AFL Rising Star
The AFL Rising Star Award was instituted in 1993 to recognise and encourage talented young players in the AFL. The winner receives the Ron Evans Medal, in memory of the respected and loved former AFL Commission chairman. It has quickly become one of the League’s most sought-after and respected medals, not least because of the notable careers enjoyed by the Rising Stars, starting with inaugural winner Nathan Buckley.
One young player is nominated for the award after each round of home-and-away matches, with a panel of experts choosing the winner at the end of the season. To qualify for the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, a player must be under 21 years of age as at January 1 of that year, must not have played more than 10 games to the start of that season and must not have been suspended by the AFL or State League tribunals during the season.
2011 Nominees
Round 1: Dyson Heppell (Essendon)Round 2: Luke Shuey (West Coast)
Round 3: Mitch Duncan (Geelong Cats)
Round 4: Jasper Pittard (Port Adelaide)
Round 5: Brandon Matera (Gold Coast SUNS)
Round 6: Jack Darling (West Coast)
Round 7: Zac Smith (Gold Coast SUNS)
Round 8: Shane Savage (Hawthorn)
Round 9: Reece Conca (Richmond)
Round 10: Jack Steven (St Kilda)
Round 11: Jordan Gysberts (Melbourne)
Round 12: Sam Reid (Sydney Swans)
Round 13: Daniel Menzel (Geelong Cats)
Round 14: David Swallow (Gold Coast SUNS)
Round 15: Luke Breust (Hawthorn)
Round 16: Jake Batchelor (Richmond)
Round 17: Trent McKenzie (Gold Coast SUNS)
Round 18: Allen Christensen (Geelong Cats)
Round 19: Andrew Gaff (West Coast)
Round 20: Zac Clarke (Fremantle)
Round 21: Luke Dahlhaus (Western Bulldogs)
Round 22: Alex Fasolo (Collingwood)
Round 23: Sam Blease (Melbourne)
Previous Winners
1993 Nathan Buckley (Brisbane)
1994 Chris Scott (Brisbane)
1995 Nick Holland (Hawthorn)
1996 Ben Cousins (West Coast Eagles)
1997 Michael Wilson (Port Adelaide)
1998 Byron Pickett (North Melbourne)
1999 Adam Goodes (Sydney)
2000 Paul Hasleby (Fremantle)
2001 Justin Koschitzke (St Kilda)
2002 Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda)
2003 Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)
2004 Jared Rivers (Melbourne)
2005 Brett Deledio (Richmond)
2006 Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide)
2007 Joel Selwood (Geelong)
2008 Rhys Palmer (Fremantle)
2009 Daniel Rich (Brisbane Lions)
2010 Daniel Hannebery (Sydney)
Note: Votes kept in-house prior to 1997; votes listed since 2001.
