New Sun rises

By Lachlan Ellis

A Darley Devils Best & Fairest winner has made it to the big league, being picked up by the Gold Coast Suns in this year’s draft.

Sam Clohesy won the Under 17 Seniors Best & Fairest for the Darley Football Club in 2019, but will now don Gold Coast’s red and gold after being taken at Pick 4 in the AFL’s Rookie Draft.

It’s been a long journey for Mr Clohesy, who’s played for Assumption College and Darley, as well as spending three years the Gold Coast Suns Academy – so he’s been on the club’s radar for a while.

This year he played for Werribee’s VFL side, who, coincidentally, were defeated by Gold Coast’s VFL team in the Grand Final.

But despite Gold Coast raining on Werribee’s parade, Clohesy says he’s focused solely on doing the best he can at the Suns.

“It was difficult to get over that loss with Werribee at the start, it was a tough loss and we put so much into this year, but this is the next chapter of my life. I’m a Sun now, I’ve just got to take it in my stride.” he told the Moorabool News.

Draft week was tough at first for Mr Clohesy, as he wasn’t taken in the first two nights in the regular draft. However, his strong performance in the VFL this season – including winning the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal as the VFL’s rising star – helped keep his hopes alive.

“Obviously having to sit through the National Draft and not hear your name called out, was tough. But I was lucky enough to get picked up in the Rookie Draft which was really exciting. Then I got up here and got straight into it pretty quickly. It was my first big day on the Monday,” he said.

“The Fothergill did give me a bit of confidence. I really hadn’t thought much about the Draft before that night really, but once I won that medal it kind of gave me that clear thought that I am good enough to make it. It was really reassuring.”

When asked about his time at the Devils Den, Clohesy had nothing but praise for the Moorabool club.

“My time with Darley was unbelievable. Being able to play with them while at Assumption was great, the Closters brought me down and I’d stay at their house and play on the Sunday. We had a lot of fun and played some really good footy,” he said.

“I don’t have a bad word at all to say about Darley, it’s a great club.”

The new Sun is already getting straight into training, with a heavy block of about four weeks of intense training planned before Christmas.