Central District’s Nick Holman strong chance for SANFL’s Magarey Medal

HIGH-quality Central District midfielder Nick Holman and Norwood gun Mitch Grigg are among the top hopes for the Magarey Medal when the count in held at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night.

Central District’s Nick Holman. Picture: Dylan Coker

CENTRAL District midfielder Nick Holman has emerged as a serious contender for the Magarey Medal to be awarded Tuesday night.

In a season when the race for the state league’s most prestigious individual award is wide open, Holman played all 18 rounds and was among the most consistent elite performers. And he plays on the ball, a crucial fact in claiming the award given the domination of midfielders.

Bulldog midfielder and Magarey Medal hope Nick Holman attempts to break a tackle against Sturt. Picture: Sam Wundke

Dual Magarey Medallist Joel Cross and Norwood coach Jarrod Cotton mentioned Holman when asked for their opinion on the count at Adelaide Oval.

“Holman is a good football player, it just depends on whether Central has won enough games,” Cotton said. “If (Port Adelaide’s) Aaron Young played all year he’d probably win it.”

Cross also described Holman as a good player and also nominated Matthew Panos and Mitch Grigg from the Redlegs as having had impressive seasons.

Bulldogs chief executive Kris Grant said Holman represented all that the SANFL competition stands for and would definitely be a worthy winner.

“He has had an exceptional year in all facets,” Grant said. “He plays it so fierce and hard, but he is exceptional because he gets a lot of it.

“Travis Schiller could take votes off him though because he has also had a good year while Chris Jansen has had games where he got a lot of the ball.”

Holman, who joined the Bulldogs last year after two seasons and nine games for Carlton, was the second highest possession gatherer in the league this season behind Schiller and averaged more than 26 disposals a game.

Grigg is a proven votegetter and his ability to constantly find the ball will ensure he captured plenty of attention from the umpires. He missed just one round which helps his cause.

Cotton expects Grigg to poll well in the first half of the season when his form was at its best.

“Matt Panos had a solid month when he came back from injury, but he missed too many games to have a real shot at it (Medal),” Cotton said.

“What we did well for Griggy was when we lost games, most of them were narrow losses.

“There were three games when we probably won’t get any votes.”

The chances of Cross and Sturt captain Zane Kirkwood claiming a third medal would have been dented by inconsistency.

“I had some good games and some poor ones,” Cross said. “I’m not on the radar for the medal really.”

The medal will be telecast on 7mate from 9pm.