Co-captain Jarrod Witts has claimed his first ever Best & Fairest after taking out the top award at Gold Coast’s 2019 Club Champion.

Witts was presented with the highest individual honour at the club’s annual awards night, held at Patron Partner Southport Sharks on Saturday night.

Taking the lead in Round 7, Witts led the award for the remainder of the night after what was a stellar season for the SUNS’ ruckman.

WATCH: Jarrod Witts 2019 Highlights

He polled 553 votes to win comfortably ahead of fellow skipper and runner-up David Swallow (417 votes) and third-placed Darcy Macpherson (368 votes).

The 26-year-old broke the record for most hit outs in a regular season, registering 1008 from his 22 games at an average of 45.82.

His work at ground level was also exceptional, with the ruckman averaging 15 disposals, three marks and three tackles per game.

Off the field, Witts has come along a way in 2019.

Since coming to the club at the end of 2016, Witts has become one of the most loved and well-respected members of the playing group and has taken his leadership to the next level, being awarded the co-captaincy for the 2019 season.

The skipper’s victory is his first Club Champion award of any kind with the SUNS.

The voting system saw Gold Coast’s five-man match committee award votes to an unlimited number of players per match.

Each player is eligible to earn a maximum of ten votes from each individual member of the match committee, meaning the maximum number of votes a player could receive for any match is 50.