SANFL’s 15 most influential players for 2022
It was one of the SANFL’s most tightly contested seasons in history – and 15 players rose above all the others, including one who kicked a Grand Final-winning goal. See the list.
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They are the Fab 15.
The 15 players who had the biggest influence on the 2022 SANFL season – one of the most tightly contested of all time.
With so little separating the 10 clubs – 31 of the 90 minor-round games were decided by 12 points or fewer – the ability of a player to stand up in big moments was never more important.
The closeness of the season was not restricted to the home-and-away rounds, with four of the six finals decided by 16 points or fewer and Norwood beating minor premiers North Adelaide in the grand final by only one point.
Here is The Advertiser’s list of the big on-ground movers and shakers this year.
1. Harry Boyd (Norwood)
Talk about a rags-to-riches story.
The 24-year-old last year joined the Redlegs as a key defender from the Shepparton Bears in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley League (he also had a short stint at VFL club Werribee) and started in the reserves.
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This year he became, along with Crow Kieran Strachan, the SANFL’s dominant ruckman, averaging a competition-best 146 Champion Data ranking points and being selected as lead ruckman in The Advertiser SANFL Team of the Year.
Boyd won the prized Jack Oatey Medal as best afield in the epic grand final win against North, compiling a whopping 64 hit-outs and having 20 disposals and taking seven marks in a powerhouse performance.
2. Aaron Young (North Adelaide)
The former Port Adelaide and Gold Coast AFL player had a mixed first season back in the SANFL last year.
This year he exploded.
The 29-year-old midfielder won the Magarey Medal as the competition’s best and fairest player, averaging 27 disposals and kicking 21 goals in the minor round.
His finals form was just as strong, averaging 25 disposals and two goals and appearing to have won the grand final for North when he put it 17 points up midway through the final term, only for Norwood’s Matt Panos to pull another trick out of his magic bag.
3. Matt Panos (Norwood)
The veteran 31-year-old utility played only nine of a possible 22 league games for the Redlegs but was instrumental in the club winning its first flag since 2014.
After making his comeback through the reserves after nearly two years out with a serious knee injury, Panos returned to league level against Adelaide in round eight and won the game for Norwood with four goals, including the matchwinner in the dying seconds.
It was in the finals where his class really stood out, kicking crucial goals, including the final one in the grand final that etched his name in football folklore.
4. Nik Rokahr (Norwood)
The hard-as-nails midfielder is the rock around which the Redlegs midfield is built.
When there is a hard ball to be won, he usually emerges with it.
Rokahr finished runner-up in the Magarey Medal – falling one vote shy of winner Young – and missed the last round with a bad ankle injury.
Heroically, the 27-year-old played through the finals series largely on one leg because of the injury, with coach Jade Rawlings revealing after the grand final that he had ankle syndesmosis, which would usually sideline a player for six-to-eight weeks.
5. Riley Knight (Woodville-West Torrens)
The former Crow enjoyed his best SANFL season and went into the Magarey Medal count as a warm favourite.
But a hamstring injury just before quarter-time of the last minor round against South Adelaide, after he was the leading disposal winner on the ground with 11, cost him any votes in that game and he finished equal-third with 21 votes – two behind Young.
Midfielder Knight, 27, averaged 29 disposals, five marks, six clearances and six tackles for the year to win the SANFL's R. O. Shearman Medal, becoming the first Eagle in six years to win the award.
6. Harrison Wigg (North Adelaide)
The man with the elite left-foot kick enjoyed his finest SANFL season, finishing equal-seventh in the Magarey Medal with 16 votes.
The former Crow and Sun averaged 29 disposals, seven marks and four clearances and ripped Adelaide apart in the second semi-final with a stunning 39-possession, 10-mark, one-goal game.
Injuries ruined his AFL career but the 25-year-old was so good this season that good judges believe he deserves another crack at it.
7. Campbell Combe (North Adelaide)
The 2020 Magarey Medallist enjoyed another standout year, leading the Roosters in clearances (6.6 average) and tackles (8.3) to finish ninth in medal voting, with 15.
He was again the heart and soul of North’s star-studded midfield and would have won the Jack Oatey Medal if the Roosters had not lost a 17-point lead late in the grand final.
Combe, 27, had 24 disposals, 14 tackles and seven clearances in the ‘big dance’ to finish runner-up for the Oatey medal, with 15 votes to Boyd’s 23.
8. Jack Heard (Norwood)
At the start of the season, most SANFL fans would not have heard of him.
But the 22-year-old turned himself into one of the competition’s premier defenders, being named at centre half-back in the team of the year and starring in the finals.
He was Norwood’s second-best player in the grand final, despite playing with a broken wrist that he hurt a week earlier in the preliminary final.
Heard not only shuts down opponents but wins plenty of the ball himself.
He hasn’t had a lot of AFL interest but he deserves to be drafted.
9. Daniel Menzel (Woodville-West Torrens)
When it comes to influence, few players can influence a game as much as the veteran Eagles full forward.
At age 31, he won his first Ken Farmer Medal as the SANFL’s leading goalkicker, booting 51 in 18 games, and produced some scintillating passages of play.
After four knee reconstructions, Menzel, at times, looks like he is struggling to cover ground but then, in the blink of an eye, he will produce a moment of magic.
10. Kieran Strachan (Adelaide)
Unlucky not to be a regular AFL player, the 204cm Crows ruckman was only outpointed by Boyd in the SANFL this year.
The 26-year-old regularly gave his opponents a lesson in ruck work, averaging 134 Champion Data ranking points in the minor round, along with 17 disposals, six marks and 35 hit-outs.
He gave his on-ballers an armchair ride, carrying the team to within a win of its first SANFL grand final.
11. Matthew Snook (Glenelg)
Glenelg’s Mr Reliable enjoyed another stellar season, despite a late start to pre-season training because of injury as his body started to show signs of wear and tear.
The inside midfielder, who played in the reserves in round one to get some conditioning, managed to still finish fifth in the Magarey Medal, averaging 25 disposals and six clearances.
It was the 30-year-old left-footer’s third consecutive top-five placing after he finished runner-up in 2020 and 2021.
Snook's back injury in the first quarter of the first semi-final against Norwood, which saw him leave the game in the second term, ruined the Tigers hopes of advancing.
12. Casey Voss (Sturt)
A rebounding star, the son of Brisbane Brownlow Medallist Michael Voss is a backline ball magnet.
He set up Sturt’s attacking thrusts from defence, averaging 24 disposals and nine marks and catching the umpires’ eyes by finishing third in the Magarey Medal with 21 votes.
Voss won the Fos Williams Medal as South Australia’s best player in this year’s state game win against Western Australia in Perth.
How the 22-year-old has not been drafted is one of football’s great mysteries.
13. Joey Haines (South Adelaide)
Like Voss, Haines is a rebounding and marking machine across halfback.
He made the team of the year, averaging 25 disposals and six marks, and, as usual, thrilled Panthers fans with his high leaping and long kicking.
At age 29, he's missed his draft calling but he should have been given a go because he has the weapons to succeed on the big stage.
14. Matthew Nunn (Norwood)
The tough Redlegs captain – now a premiership skipper – battled injury through the minor round, missing eight games.
But he was still the leading midfielder among the eight stand-alone SANFL clubs for average Champion Data ranking points, with 123.
Nunn, 25, went into the finals underdone because of injury but his influence was still enormous.
He stood up at key moments in all three of Norwood’s finals wins, leading by example with his ferocious attack on the ball and body.
15. James Battersby (Sturt)
The Double Blues captain is not as brilliant as midfield teammate Patrick Wilson, who only played 12 games this year because of recurrent shoulder problems, but he’s super consistent.
Battersby, 26, averaged 26 disposals, six clearances and five tackles and made the team of the year for the fifth time, making him the most capped player in this year’s side.
Never plays a bad game.
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