Matt Rowell has earned the praise of his peers, taking out the David Swallow Award as players’ player at the 2025 Club Champion awards.
The David Swallow Award, previously known as Players’ Player, was named in the club legend’s honour in 2024. Swallow, who has retired following the conclusion of this season, won the award on three occasions throughout his 249-game career.
The award is voted on by every SUNS AFL listed player and recognises the player who has displayed the most selfless and inspirational acts throughout the year.
All players submit a 3-2-1 vote at the end of each month, which gets tallied to determine the winner.
The honour is Rowell’s second Players’ Player award after also winning in 2023, joining Swallow (2017, 2019, 2020), Touk Miller (2019-22) and Jarrod Harbrow (2016 & 2018) as multiple winners.
The 24-year-old had a career-best season, leading the AFL for clearances and sitting among the elite for contested possessions, tackles and centre clearances.
He was last Monday named as the club’s second Brownlow Medal winner, polling a club-record 39 votes in a historic count after also earning a maiden All Australian blazer.
Alongside Rowell, both Sam Collins and Ben Long have earned a second straight Top 5 finish in the David Swallow award, with Miller and Noah Anderson making a big rise in the group’s perception of their grit and chemistry from last year.
David Swallow Award Top 5:
1st: Matt Rowell (264)
2nd: Noah Anderson (194)
3rd: Sam Collins (146)
4th: Ben Long (97)
5th: Touk Miller (79)
