Just a day after being delisted by the Power in the AFL, Matt Thomas has won the SANFL’s highest individual honour.
The Norwood midfielder has been awarded the Magarey Medal for fairest and best, finishing with 26 votes, five ahead the favourite Port Adelaide’s Sam Gray.
Thomas’ team-mate Mitch Grigg finished third with 18 votes.
Thomas is the 11th Redlegs player to win the medal and says the support network at Norwood has been instrumental in helping his career.
“I’ve made a lot of friends out there over the last eight years and some have come and gone and most are still around and it’s just such a familiar place for me and I love heading out to Norwood. I wear the colours with pride, they’re the same colours as my school team growing up at Melbourne Grammar, so you know I’ve worn the red socks for probably 10, 12 years,” he said.
Thomas said he was looking forward to playing finals football in the SANFL despite the difficult time he faced in being delisted by Port.
“For me it’s been a pretty hard 24 hours. Looking forward to just getting out on the weekend and playing some good footy and just enjoying [it], I haven’t enjoyed my footy as much as I have this year,” he said.
