Tara Murray
Werribee young gun Sam Clohesy has continued the club’s tradition of producing strong young talent, named the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell medalist as the rising star in the Victorian Football League.
Fresh off a best on ground performance in Werribee’s preliminary final win against the Brisbane Lions, Clohesy was recognised at the league’s awards night on Monday night.
“I wasn’t really expecting it,” he said after receiving the medal. “I’ve only found my feet in the back end of the year.
“A couple of the boys started calling me Fothergill during the season and I didn’t know what it was a fair while ago.
“There were a couple of articles come through and I had a bit of a look but I didn’t want to get caught up in it, there’s much bigger things at hand.
“It’s a huge honour.”
Clohesy’s football journey has taken him not only across Victoria but to Queensland before landing at Werribee.
He grew up in Geelong before the family ended up in Queensland. He ended up at the Gold Coast Suns Academy, before boarding at Assumption College.
There was then a stint with Darley in the Ballarat Football League before coming back to Geelong and joining Werribee.
Clohesy was quick to give credit to the playing group at Werribee and the strong culture that has been built at the club.
He said he always knew he was capable of playing at a high level.
“I love it,” he said. “All credit to those guys they’ve shown me the way.
“The way they go about it and I’ve kind of gotten under their wing, gone along with them and full credit to them for getting me to where I am today.”
Clohesy becomes the fifth Werribee player and the third since 2018 to win the medal. Among Werribee’s winners, is now coach Michael Barlow.
“I’ll have a joke with him for sure,” Clohesy said of his coach. “We’ve followed each other a lot Assumption, the Suns, this is another one of them.”
While Clohsey still dreams of an AFL career, for him and Werribee there is bigger fish to fry first, a grand final this Sunday.
“I can’t wait to get out there, “ he said. “It’s already been a long week so far, I just want to get out there and show them what I’ve got. It’s going to be a great game, really heated should be good fun.”
In other awards, Tom Gribble finished equal third in the J.J Liston Medal. The star midfielder was also awarded VFL life membership.
Gribble, Dom Brew, Nick Coughlan and Shaun Mannagh were all named in the team of the year, with Barlow named coach of the year.
