FOOTBALL
AFL EXPORTS
By TOM HAYES
MOE and Fish Creek footballing product Sam Flanders capped off an exceptional 2024 season, with a top three finish in Gold Coast Suns best and fairest.
In a season where he hit peak consistency, Flanders played a career-high 22 games in one season, playing his 50th AFL game during the year.
Gold Coast also had one of its most successful seasons in terms of win-loss ratio, as Flanders won 11 of his 22 games played.
From a statistical point of view, he was among the best in the AFL.
Flanders tallied 680 disposals throughout the season, ranking sixth in the entire league. Ahead of him were the likes of Tom Green (737 disposals), Lachie Whitfield (735), Adam Treloar (725), Nick Daicos (705), and Patrick Cripps (692). Not bad company.
Bringing up names, he recorded more disposals than Lachie Neale, Caleb Serong and Marcus Bontempelli to name a few.
In terms of average disposals however, Flanders moves up into second, having only played 22 games, averaging 30.9 touches per game. Above him was only Treloar, who averaged 31.5 disposals per game.
In comparison to the rest of the competition, Flanders was ranked in the elite category for disposals, kicks, handballs, and fantasy points, and he was above average for marks, tackles, and metres gained.
At the end of the 2023 season, an out-of-contract Flanders signed a four-year deal, which keeps him at the Suns until the end of the 2027 season.
