Season in short
It’s impossible to talk about Tom Boyd’s season without mentioning his 60m goal late in the Grand Final that effectively iced the Dogs’ first premiership in 62 years.
It symbolised a coming of age of sorts for the 21-year-old who had shown steady signs of improvement all season.
As he continued to increase his aerobic capacity, 2016 saw Boyd spend more time in the ruck than ever before, going from 11.4% in 2015 to 45.6% this season, while forming a strong on-field relationship with Jordan Roughead in the back half of the season.
His performance in the preliminary final as the Dogs’ sole ruckman was a highlight, as was his near best afield performance against Sydney on Grand Final day.
With another pre-season under his belt, the only way is up for Boyd.
The stat that mattered
Boyd recorded career high numbers in games played, disposals, marks, tackles and clearances.
What they said
“Obviously this season threw a few different things at me but I suppose from a consistency point of view it’s probably been my best year.
"I’m not 100% sure how many games I ended up getting out but it would be close to the most games I’ve played in a season, so there were a lot of improvements and obviously it was great to cap off the season with a Grand Final win.
“I feel like physically and aerobically I’m starting to match it with the players that I’ve got to deal with, [and] that was the main [goal] this year, getting myself to a level physically where I could compete week to week.
“[I’ll look to] increase my running power and finding a way to be strong enough and mobile enough to be able to play ruck and forward.”
Gram of the year
Wow indeed.
