West Coast waited nearly 4 years between Rising Star nominations. Thanks to a four-goal haul, the subsequent wait took lower than 4 weeks.
Eagles teen Jai Culley grabbed the spherical six Rising Star nomination after a stunning ahead blitz, edging out Melbourne’s Jacob van Rooyen and following within the footsteps of teammate Reuben Ginbey from earlier this month.
It marks simply the second time in West Coast historical past that they’ve had two nominations inside the primary six rounds of a season, following Luke Shuey and Jack Darling in 2011.
WA’s van Rooyen grabbed the headlines along with his beautiful late burst for Melbourne, nevertheless it was Culley who grabbed this week’s nomination on the again of his four-goal haul towards Port Adelaide.
The midfielder shocked many when he was the Eagles’ greatest ahead of their 40-point loss. Culley had booted only one objective in his earlier six AFL video games earlier than being thrown ahead towards the Power.
Culley, 20, was chosen by the Eagles with decide No.1 in final yr’s mid-season draft and went on to play three video games to finish the season.
A calf damage saved him out of the aspect early this yr, however the big-bodied midfielder acquired a call-up in spherical 4, serving to cowl the losses of a number of stars who have been injured within the western derby.
Culley’s efforts towards Port have been made much more spectacular by the very fact he needed to overcome an enormous bump that led to a one-game ban for Power captain Tom Jonas.
“I’m really trying to find my feet and getting more and more confident each week,” Culley stated.
“Bit of a new role last week playing up forward but managed to kick a few and have a little bit of an impact.
“It helps playing each week. It’s definitely a step up from WAFL level and at the moment I’m heaps more confident, especially after last week, so I’m pretty excited for this week.”
Van Rooyen kicked three final-quarter objectives for Melbourne as they overran Richmond on the MCG on Monday evening.
The Claremont product has now kicked 9 objectives in 4 video games since debuting in spherical three, together with two hauls of three.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
