Matt Hamblin wins the Riverina League Player of the Year award for the first time

Hamblin polled in all eight of the Lions' games in the second half of the season to score a thrilling one-vote victory in the award, voted by coaches on a weekly basis.

Hamblin hit the front with five votes in round 17 and then held off Wagga Tigers' midfielder Jock Cornell by one as the Lions had the final round bye.

Cornell only needed one vote from his final round game against Griffith to share the award but did not poll as the Swans ended Tigers' season with a 38-point victory.

Narrandera assistant coach Luke McKay enjoyed a stellar season to finish third, with Griffith recruit Rhys Pollock and Turvey Park 20-year-old Luke Fellows sharing fourth place.

Hamblin, 22, was surprised to win the award.

"It's a bit unexpected," Hamblin said.

"I think round 11 or so I wasn't even on the leaderboard so it was good to finish off the year and get there."

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Coming off ankle surgery in the off-season, Hamblin was slow to start the year and only had 10 votes by the half-way mark.

He then collected 33 votes from his next eight games to win by one.

"I definitely started off the year slow, coming off an ankle reconstruction but I finished off the season how I wanted to that's for sure," he said.

"In the back half of last season I was in a fair bit of pain so to come back from that I can't complain. I'm playing with no pain or anything this year so it's really good."

While dogged by injury throughout the second half of the year, Hamblin still managed a best-on-ground performance in GGGM's grand final victory.

He also highlighted his promise by winning the league best and fairest during the one-off AFL Riverina Championships during COVID in 2020.

As to whether he can translate the Player of the Year award into a Jim Quinn Medal for the first time on Wednesday night, Hamblin is hopeful.

"I'd like to hope so but I don't know, there's some bloody good players out there," he said.

"Rhys Pollock, Jock Cornell, they were both up there as well. Jake Barrett missed a fair chunk of the season this year, Luke McKay could steal the two or one vote every week, he's a good player."

Hamblin believes it was one of his better seasons.

"It's a hard one to judge. With this year the comp being so good, I reckon it's been one of my better seasons, full seasons anyway," he said.

"Last year it was fairly interrupted with injury so to finally finish off a full season, or hopefully anyway, has been good."

As for what's next at season's end, Hamblin is considering testing himself at a higher level.

"It's a bit of a hard one. I always said once I finish my apprenticeship I would look to and I finish my apprenticeship at the end of this year," he said.

"The main reason I stayed was to finish it off. I was always thinking of going to Adelaide, which could still be on the cards at the moment."

Hamblin's immediate focus is helping GGGM over the line against Turvey Park in Sunday's preliminary final at Robertson Oval.

He believes there isn't much between the three remaining teams.

"We've beaten Turvey one game and they've beaten us. Griffith are the same, they've beaten us twice and we've beaten them once. It's anyone's game I reckon at the moment," he said.

"The top five or six was hard to work out who was going to win, it could have been anyone."

Hamblin said pressure is the key to the Lions' game.

"I reckon high pressure. Griffith put high pressure on us and we made dumb decisions and that's how they got us," he said.

"I reckon the midfield battle and getting it into our key forwards and giving them every opportunity we can."

43 - Matt Hamblin (GGGM)

42 - Jock Cornell (Wagga Tigers)

36 - Luke McKay (Narrandera)

34 - Rhys Pollock (Griffith), Luke Fellows (Turvey Park)

30 - Nelson Foley (MCUE)

28 - Ed Perryman (Collingullie-GP)

26 - Jackson Kelly (Wagga Tigers)

24 - Ben Walsh (GGGM), Kane Flack (Collingullie-GP)

Jimmy Meiklejohn

1 Jock Cornell (Wagga Tigers)

2 Matt Hamblin (GGGM)

3 Rhys Pollock (Griffith)

Matt Malone

1 Matt Hamblin (GGGM)

2 Nelson Foley (MCUE)

3 Luke McKay (Narrandera)

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