The Gold Coast SUNS have gone to the top of the Rising Star ‘ladder’.
Jai Murray’s nomination this week gives the club 29 Rising Star nominees since joining the AFL in 2011 – one more than the GWS Giants in the same period.
And it means that no fewer than 13 members of the current SUNS playing list have been nominated for the coveted award.
Murray, recognised in only his third game for his 17 possessions, five tackles and two goal assists in last Friday night’s home game against Hawthorn, was quicker to earn a nomination than all but three of the club’s previous 28 nominees.
Izak Rankine, now at Adelaide, was nominated on debut in 2020, while Matt Rowell (2020) and Jake Rogers (2024) received the weekly ‘gong’ in their second game.
Like Murray, Connor Budarick (2020) and Elijah Hollands (2022) were nominated in game three.
The full list of SUNS nominees, listed in game nomination order, with their year of nomination and an asterisk for current players, is:
Games – Player – Year
1 – Izak Rankine (2020)
2 – Matt Rowell (2020)*
2 – Jake Rogers (2024)*
3 – Jai Murray (2026)*
3 – Connor Budarick (2020)
3 – Elijah Hollands (2022)
4 – Brandon Matera (2011)
5 – Jaeger O’Meara (2013)
5 – Adam Saad (2015)
5 – Leo Lombard (2026)*
6 – Zac Smith (2011)
6 – Jeremy Sharp (2021)
6 – Joel Jeffery (2022)*
6 – Bailey Humphrey (2023)*
7 – Tom Nicholls (2011)
7 – Kade Kolodjashnij (2014)
7 – Noah Anderson (2020)*
9 – Will Graham (2024)*
10 – Ben King (2019)*
11 – David Swallow (2011)
11 – Jack Martin (2014)
12 – Peter Wright (2016)
12 – Ben Ainsworth (2017)
13 – Bodhi Uwland (2024)*
14 – Trent McKenzie (2011)
15 – Touk Miller (2015)*
17 – Josh Caddy (2012)
17 – Mac Andrew (2023)*
18 – Ethan Read (2025)*
That 13 current SUNS players have received a Rising Star nomination is a wonderful endorsement of the club’s talent identification and development.
Nine other SUNS Rising Star nominees are now at other clubs: Rankine (Adelaide), Budarick (Western Bulldogs), Ainsworth, Saad and Hollands (Carlton), Wright (Essendon), O’Meara and Sharp (Fremantle) and Martin (Geelong).
The record of 29 could have been significantly more given that the inaugural SUNS All-Australian trio of Charlie Dixon, Tom Lynch and Steven May, and three-time Richmond premiership player Dion Prestia, were curiously overlooked for a nomination along with current pair Wil Powell and Jed Walter.
Current players aside, only two SUNS Rising Star nominees played their entire career at the club – Swallow and Nicholls.
Swallow holds the record for most games for the SUNS by a Rising Star nominee at 249. He heads seven other 100-gamers – Miller (228), Ainsworth (158), Anderson (142), King (134), Rowell (119), McKenzie (106) and Matera (101).
Also on the all-time Rising Star nominee list is Lachie Weller. He was nominated after 15 games in his second season at Fremantle in 2016.
The Rising Star nominations leaderboard since 2011 is:
29 – Gold Coast
28 – GWS
23 – Essendon, Melbourne
21 – Brisbane, Richmond
20 – Adelaide, Sydney, Western Bulldogs
19 – Hawthorn
18 – Carlton, West Coast
17 – Fremantle, Geelong, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, St Kilda
16 – Collingwood
