Tackling machine Campbell Combe becomes 17th Rooster to win the Magarey Medal
Crystal Brook farmer Campbell Combe has become the 17th Rooster to win the Magarey Medal as the SANFL’s fairest and most brilliant player.
SANFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from SANFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A farmer from Crystal Brook has become the 17th Rooster to win the Magarey Medal as the SANFL’s fairest and most brilliant player.
Tackling machine Campbell Combe, who laid an amazing 19 tackles in grand finalist North Adelaide’s second semi-final win against the Eagles, last night polled 19 votes to edge out pre-count favourite Matthew Snook, from Glenelg, by two.
Sturt captain James Battersby was third on 16 votes.
Combe, 25, polled the maximum three votes in six games – and one vote in the last home-and-away match of the season – to overhaul Battersby and Snook, who were the two leaders after round 11.
Combe was named best afield in three of North’s last six games.
Last year’s Magarey Medallist, Tiger Luke Partington, dual South Adelaide medallist Joel Cross and retiring Double Blue Sam Colquhoun were equal fourth, with 15 votes in the revamped 14-round season.
The 178cm, 84kg Combe’s story is remarkable.
He made his league debut as a teenager in 2014 before moving back to Crystal Brook to work on his family’s farm.
Combe, whose 23-year-old brother Will also plays for North, won three consecutive Northern Areas Football Association Mail Medals from 2016 to 2018 while playing for the Crystal Brook Roosters.
Renowned for his tackling and tough, no-nonsense approach, he is the first Rooster to win the Magarey Medal since James Allan in 2011.
He joins other North greats such as Barrie Robran, Andrew Jarman and Don Lindner in winning the medal.
Combe returned to North last year and has had a standout season, leading the league in tackles in the minor round with 140 in 14 games at an average of 10.
He averaged 24 disposals.
In the first virtual Magarey Medal presentation because of COVID-19 guidelines, Combe, who will play in Sunday's grand final against the Eagles, was presented with the medal at a function at the North clubrooms at Prospect Oval, surrounded by teammates and officials.
He polled 11 more votes than any other Rooster, with midfield sidekick Andrew Moore, expected to be a leading contender, polling just eight.
The minor premier Eagles polled the most votes with 60, with Jack Hayes and Joe Sinor leading their voting with 11.