Daniel Talia from the Adelaide Football Club is the 2012 NAB AFL Rising Star.
A former Calder Cannon, Daniel was presented with the Ron Evans Medal, a $20,000 NAB Private Wealth investment portfolio and access to a dedicated personal banker, courtesy of the National Australia Bank.
Daniel won with 43 votes followed by Jeremy Cameron (35 votes – former North Ballarat Rebel) and Mitch Wallis (19 votes – former Calder Cannon).
In an amazing year, 19 of the 23 nominees were Victorian, and had played in the TAC Cup.
The 20-year-old defender was nominated in Round 12 after the match against St Kilda. He is the first player from the Adelaide Crows to win the award.
Daniel played all 22 games this season. Since he made his AFL debut in Round 15, 2011, he has played 31 consecutive matches.
His dominance in defence has seen him only concede 23 goals for the season keeping the likes of Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead, Chris Dawes, Drew Petrie, Jack Riewoldt and Jack Darling goalless.
His 138 defensive spoils this season sees him ranked number one at the Crows and equal fifth in the competition.
Adelaide Crows coach Brenton Sanderson said Daniel has played an important role in the side this season.
“Daniel has had a fantastic season for us. He’s only 20 but we have kept giving him the big jobs in defence and he has kept delivering against some of the game’s best forwards.
“It hasn’t just been a week here and a week there. He has been doing it all season.
“Clearly he will be very important to us in the finals. All the other teams in the eight have influential tall forwards so he is going to be really excited by those challenges,” he said.
Daniel was the Crows’ first selection (selection 13 overall) in the 2009 NAB AFL Draft.
He represented Vic Metro in the 2009 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships and was named the Under-18 All-Australian centre-half back. He was recruited from Greenvale Junior Football Club, Assumption College and the Calder Cannons.
The NAB AFL Rising Star is voted by the All-Australian selection panel: Andrew Demetriou, Adrian Anderson, Danny Frawley, Kevin Bartlett, Mark Ricciuto, Luke Darcy, Glen Jakovich, Gerard Healy and Kevin Sheehan (rising star selector only).
2012 Voting
Daniel Talia 43
Jeremy Cameron 35
Mitchell Wallis 19
Adam Treloar 15
Steven Motlop 11
Tom McDonald 7
Josh Caddy 3
Stephen Coniglio 2
The selectors’ votes were as follows:
Andrew Demetriou
5 – Daniel Talia
4 – Jeremy Cameron
3 – Adam Treloar
2 – Mitchell Wallis
1 – Tom McDonald
Adrian Anderson
5 – Jeremy Cameron
4 – Daniel Talia
3 – Mitchell Wallis
2 – Tom McDonald
1 – Stephen Coniglio
Danny Frawley
5 – Daniel Talia
4 – Jeremy Cameron
3 – Adam Treloar
2 – Mitchell Wallis
1 – Steven Motlop
Kevin Bartlett
5 – Daniel Talia
4 – Mitchell Wallis
3 – Jeremy Cameron
2 – Steven Motlop
1 – Tom McDonald
Mark Ricciuto
5 – Daniel Talia
4 – Jeremy Cameron
3 – Steven Motlop
2 – Josh Caddy
1 – Mitchell Wallis
Luke Darcy
5 – Jeremy Cameron
4 – Daniel Talia
3 – Mitchell Wallis
2 – Steven Motlop
1 – Stephen Coniglio
Glen Jakovich
5 – Daniel Talia
4 – Adam Treloar
3 – Steven Motlop
2 – Jeremy Cameron
1 – Josh Caddy
Gerard Healy
5 – Daniel Talia
4 – Jeremy Cameron
3 – Adam Treloar
2 – Tom McDonald
1 – Mitchell Wallis
Kevin Sheehan
5 – Daniel Talia
4 – Jeremy Cameron
3 – Mitchell Wallis
2 – Adam Treloar
1 – Tom McDonald
Last Modified on 05/09/2012 23:10