If you were to ask an assorted bunch of interstate-based AFL ‘experts’ to rank the Gold Coast SUNS players in ‘star factor’ appeal where do you think Bodhi Uwland might sit?
Think about it? Just to name 10 there’s captain Noah Anderson, Brownlow Medallist Matt Rowell and boom recruit Christian Petracca, ex-captains Touk Miller and Jarrod Witts, vice-captain Sam Collins, ex-southerners Daniel Rioli and John Noble, all-time SUNS leading goal-kicker Ben King and #1 draft pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
That’s a quick 10 which doesn’t include high-priced draftee Mac Andrew, the classy Lachie Weller, a hard-nosed Ben Long, would-be Victorian recruiting target Bailey Humphrey, WA State player Wil Powell, or any of the high-quality products of the SUNS Academy.
So, it’s not unreasonable to forecast that among the 30 players who have worn the SUNS’ red and yellow this year Uwland be ranked outside the top 10 by most interstaters.
After all, when Uwland finished runner-up to Collins in the 2024 SUNS’ best and fairest, the most common response from non-Queenslanders was ‘Bodhi Who?”
But ask an ‘insider’ and you’ll get a different answer. They’ll tell you the blonde utility defender is an absolute star, and point to the SUNS’ Round 9 win over St Kilda in Darwin last Saturday night for unquestionable vindication.
In his 57th game, the 22-year-old defender delivered one of his very best performances, collecting an equal career-best 29 possessions, including a game-high and career-best 13 intercept possessions, nine contested possessions, 10 marks and two score involvements. And a disposal efficiency of 86.2%.
In what the ratings say was the fourth-best game of his career, Uwland was the #1 rated player in the game at 17.4, ahead of teammate Bailey Humphrey’s 15.7.
The only three games in which he has recorded a higher rating were earlier this season against Melbourne at the MCG (18.2) and GWS at People First Stadium (17.7), and the Round 17 clash last year with Essendon at Marvel Stadium (17.5).
SUNS coach Damien Hardwick and Saints counterpart Ross Lyon certainly liked Uwland’s performance, giving him a career-high eight votes in the AFL Coach’s Player of the Year Award.
In a SUNS cleansweep of the 5-4-3-2-1 votes from both coaches, Daniel Rioli (9) and Uwland (8) topped the list from John Noble (7), Noah Anderson (4), Humphrey (1) and Mac Andrew (1).
It was the most coaches votes Uwland has ever received in one game, equal with his 29-possession Round 2 clash with Richmond at the MCG this year, despite the fact that at 22 he was younger than all but Leo Lombard and Lachy Gulbin (19), Will Graham and Ethan Read (20), Humphrey (20) and Mac Andrew (21) in the SUNS side.
Uwland, playing this year with younger brother Zeke, was the Queensland standout in a SUNS side that made it nine wins on the trot in Darwin when they overcome a 25-point quarter-time deficit, kicking six unanswered goals to rest the momentum.
Lachie Weller continued his excellent season with 17 possessions, a team-high five inside 50s, seven score involvements and a goal, while Leo Lombard (12 possessions, one goal) and Alex Davies (nine possessions, one goal) led the SUNS stats sheet in pressure acts – Lombard had 19 and Davies 17.
Levi Ashcroft, another member of Queensland’s brother/brother group, was a standout for the Lions in their Gabba win over Carlton.
In his 37th AFL game, he had 21 possessions, two goals and a team-high nine score involvements to figure in the coaches votes for the first time.
So, too, did fellow Queenslander Bruce Reville, who had a career-high 24 possessions.
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and Carlton coach Michael Voss couldn’t split Robert Walls Medal winner Lachie Neale and Lions teammate Ryan Lester, giving them nine votes apiece, while the rest were spread between Carlton’s Patrick Cripps (4), Sam Walsh (3) and Harry McKay (2), Levi Ashcroft (2) and Reville (1).
At the Western Bulldogs, ex-SUN Connor Budarick returned from a four-week hamstring injury without missing a beat, picking up 23 possessions in their two-point win over Port Adelaide in Adelaide.
Budarick averages 20.0 possessions a game this year – up from 11.7 possessions per game in 19 games last year.
Geelong’s Jack Bowes, another ex-SUN, had 22 possessions and kicked a goal in their 54-point win over Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night. After an injury-delayed start to the season Bowes has averaged 18.8 possessions per game and kicked five goals in six games.
And Fremantle’s Corey Wagner extended the longest winning streak of his 66-game career to eight as the Dockers beat Hawthorn by 15 points in a heavyweight clash in Perth.
Having gone 2-17 in his first three years in the AFL at North Melbourne (2016-17) and Melbourne (2019) Wagner has enjoyed a 29-1-17 record in four years at Fremantle since 2023.
His eight-win streak equals the eight-loss streak that ended his time at Melbourne and had him thinking his AFL career was done until a lifeline from Fremantle four years later.
