Sandover Medal PreviewMonday, September 19, 2016 - 12:17 PM - by Chris Pike

PROLIFIC ball winners Clint Jones and Jye Bolton might appear warm favourites heading into the 2016 Sandover Medal count but that doesn't mean players from Subiaco, Peel Thunder and West Perth in particular don't have a real chance.

West Australian football's most prestigious individual award will be presented at Perth Convention Exhibition Centre this Monday night with a live broadcast of the count live on 91.3 SportFM.

While Perth's Jones and Claremont's Bolton had remarkable seasons leading their teams in the midfield during 2016 to head into the count as deserved favourites, by no means are one of them guaranteed of winning.

Teams that have taken part in the finals have players right within a chance including Subiaco's Chris Phelan, South Fremantle's Shane Hockey, Peel Thunder's Matt de Boer, West Perth's Shane Nelson and even retired East Perth ruckman Paul Johnson.

There will be players sure to poll well from other teams not in the finals as well including East Fremantle's Liam Anthony, Jones' Perth teammates Liam McKenna, Michael Sinclair and Aidan Tropiano, and Swan Districts' pair Matt Riggio and Adam Faulkner.

As always there is the chance of players ineligible to poll well and that includes two proven vote winners this year in the form of last year's runner-up Ashton Hams (South Fremantle), 2014 Sandover Medallist Aaron Black (West Perth) and East Fremantle match-winner George Hampson.

While there are certainly plenty of other top vote contenders, it's hard to go past Jones and Bolton as the two favourites to be the 2016 Sandover Medallist.

Jones has returned to the WAFL in 2016 following an AFL career with St Kilda where he played 149 games including the grand finals of 2009 and 2010.

He had already proven himself an outstanding wingman in 84 WAFL games previously with South Fremantle where he won two fairest and best awards and became a premiership player in 2005, but upon return with Perth in 2016 he was a significantly different player.

The 32-year-old now is a prolific ball winning inside midfielder and he recorded some remarkable numbers during the season and showed tremendous consistency for the Demons.

Jones averaged 34.2 possessions a game and it started with a bang with 45 disposals in Round 2 against West Perth. He bettered that with 47 touches twice in Rounds 8 and 22 but not once did he not feature amongst Perth's best players.

Jones didn’t have a game with fewer than 26 possessions and had 30 or more 14 times.

While Perth won just seven games and didn’t play finals, the Demons were vastly improved on 2015 when Aidan Tropiano won the Sandover Medal so Jones looks like he will be hard to stop.

Claremont's Bolton looks to be the man most likely to challenge Jones after an outstanding first season in the WAFL coming across from the Werribee in the VFL.

On top of winning the state game Simpson Medal for his remarkable 46-possession, two-goal effort in WA's win over Tasmania, Bolton was a consistently strong performer in the midfield for the Tigers.

Claremont might have missed out on playing finals but were a chance to win just about every game in 2016 meaning Bolton appears a chance to poll in as many as 15 of those. His quietest performances were when tagged by West Perth's Dean Munns in Rounds 7 and 13.

But outside of that, Bolton averaged 30.8 disposals in his other 18 games and had a high of 40 possessions in Round 20 against Swan Districts. He also had 30 or more touches 12 times.

Votes might be well shared out at Subiaco, but Phelan is a proven vote winner and claiming a Sandover Medal would be quite a notch on his career that already includes two premierships, a fairest and best award and 140 matches.

Coming off another premiership season in 2015 that saw him win Subiaco's Outridge Medal, Phelan has been outstanding again in the midfield for the Lions averaging 24.6 touches and doing it in a team that won 16 of 20 matches.

Phelan had a high of 32 against Perth in Round 16 but was consistent the whole way through with games of under 20 possessions only three times throughout the year.

He is a proven vote winner as well after polling 35 votes last year behind teammate Sam Menegola.

Nelson is another proven vote winner and the West Perth on-baller could very well still be a contender for the 2016 Sandover Medal despite only playing 13 games.

After missing the opening five games of the season, Nelson had an immediate impact on return in Round 6 against Swan Districts. He continued that form right up until suffering a badly broken nose and fractured cheekbone late in the loss to Subiaco in Round 20.

In those 13 games he played Nelson averaged a remarkable 35.3 possessions a game with a best of 42 against East Perth in Round 12 and never having less than 29.

He had 40 or more touches three times, and 30 or more another seven times including the last home and away season he played and got hurt in.

It would be a remarkable performance for Nelson to win the Sandover Medal after starting and finishing the home and away season injured, but it looks a possibility given he could realistically receive votes in all 13 games he played in.

Given he was runner-up in the Sandover Medal two years ago and had another 28 votes last year, he is a proven vote winner as well.

Peel Thunder is into its first ever WAFL Grand Final and perhaps their biggest chance in the Sandover Medal is Fremantle's de Boer.

Like Nelson, he will need to win by polling in almost every game he played given his appeared in just 12 matches during the season. But he had a big impact in most of them averaging 30.1 disposals including racking up 39 touches twice, and 30 or more on six occasions.

East Fremantle's Anthony is another proven vote winner polling 31 to lead the way for the Sharks last year and there's every chance he's had a better season in 2016 despite missing a couple of games.

Anthony averaged 26.4 possessions mostly as an inside midfielder and had a high of 41 in Round 18 against Swan Districts while also having 30 or more on another six occasions and he should be right at the pointy end of the leaderboard.

His teammate Hampson is another one in the same boat as Nelson and de Boer who could very well poll in just about every game he played. East Fremantle won nine games for the year and in eight of those Hampson realistically could receive top votes.

Prior to injuring a knee and being sidelined for a month, Hampson was in some remarkably dominant form splitting his time between half-forward and the midfield.

His games between Rounds 7 and 10 could see him receive four best on grounds while he also found some good form late including in Round 18 against Swan Districts where he could receive another five votes.

Given his ability to be a match winner, he could well be right up the top come the end of the count as well despite missing six games but he is ineligible.

While they appear the main contenders and Phelan is likely to lead the charge for Subiaco, excitement machine Liam Ryan and the ineligible Kyal Horsley and Leigh Kitchin are every chance to receive plenty of votes for the Lions as well.

South Fremantle's leading vote winner once again could very well be Hams but he is ineligible after being runner-up to Tropiano in 2015. But Shane Hockey, Marlion Pickett, Haiden Schloithe and Steven Verrier could also poll well from the Bulldogs.

Aaron Black is another who could poll well from West Perth despite being ineligible while Rohan Kerr deserves to poll well on the back of another outstanding consistent season on the wing for the Falcons.

Rory O'Brien could very well poll strongly again after his season on return to Peel Thunder in 2016 with the 2013 Sandover Medallist a proven vote winner.

East Perth made the finals for a fifth straight season and retired ruckman Paul Johnson could well lead the Royals' voting again in the Sandover Medal while Kane Lucas will go well until his season ended prematurely through injury.

East Fremantle's main charge should come from Anthony and Hampson, but Brock O'Brien and Cameron Eardley could also be well recognised by the umpires.

Claremont look set to be led by Bolton in the Sandover Medal count but Tom Ledger, Ryan Lim and emerging big man Darcy Cameron could also pick up plenty of votes.

Perth's midfield was outstanding throughout the season meaning that not only will Jones poll well, but so could last year's winner Tropiano along with Liam McKenna and Julian Jacobs, Michael Sinclair also deserves recognition for his performances off half-back.

It was a horror two-win season for Swan Districts but Adam Faulkner and Matt Riggio could not have possibly done more in the midfield and should be the leading vote winners for the black-and-whites.

JYE BOLTON (Claremont)
20 games, 581 possessions, 10 goals, 112 marks, 70 tackles
Games missed: 0
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 10
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Rover

LIAM ANTHONY (East Fremantle)
18 games, 475 possessions, 6 goals, 87 marks, 94 tackles
Games missed: 2
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 6
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Emergency

MATT DE BOER (Peel Thunder)

12 games, 361 possessions, 5 goals, 45 marks, 88 tackles
Games missed: 8
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 5
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Missed selection

RORY O'BRIEN (Peel Thunder)
20 games, 555 possessions, 10 goals, 82 marks, 84 tackles
Games missed: 0
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 6
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Interchange

CLINT JONES (Perth)
20 games, 684 possessions, 5 goals, 91 marks, 90 tackles
Games missed: 0
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 9
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Centre

SHANE HOCKEY (South Fremantle)
19 games, 456 possessions, 4 goals, 58 marks, 98 tackles
Games missed: 1
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 4
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Missed selection

CHRIS PHELAN (Subiaco)

19 games, 468 possessions, 5 goals, 44 marks, 67 tackles
Games missed: 1
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 7
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Interchange

ROHAN KERR (West Perth)
20 games, 483 possessions, 7 goals, 117 marks, 132 tackles
Games missed: 0
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 6
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Emergency

SHANE NELSON (West Perth)
13 games, 459 possessions, 2 goals, 53 marks, 59 tackles
Games missed: 7
Times named in wafl.com.au Team of the Week: 10
Position in wafl.com.au Team of the Year: Ruck rover