2006 Most improved.

[Paralowiepower]

My money would be on Jacob Surjan.

His attack on the ball is first class, his tackling along with Wilbur would probably be the best in the team, he is quick and what I have really liked from last year is his improvement in his skill level.

I would say there would be a few other nominations.

[PJ Power]

Yeah, the nice thing is that most of them are better placed now than they were 12 months ago.
Opportunity and exposure does that.

If we finish with 1-2 more wins, I reckon most of us won't feel so bad about this year afterall, especially if we can settle on an exciting brand of footy with a focus on winning the hard ball.


Surjan is most improved for mine as well.
I doubted his career potential at the start of the season and based too much on the SANFL games I had seen of him last year during an injury ravaged season.
He still has a way to go, but when he uses his pace and backs himself, he is a real asset and an excitement machine.


I think Chaplin has come on beautifully and Pearce has been a consistent stand-out.

[PAFC2004]

Surj in terms of how quickly he 'developed'.

[Tredders66]

Id say Salopek. He really had to this year.

[Ported]

Yup, probably Surj after thinking about it. He really did appear lost to most supporters at the beginning of the year. His tackles stick. That goal he kicked on Saturday was all class.

Then again, did anyone really expect Pearce to be the rising star favourite, as a midfielder, after 19 rounds? Shaun's improved out of sight too, but we kind of expected that he would when moved to the middle.

[Total Power]

Junior Burger and Danyl Pearce. Surjan as well.

[Macca19]

It will be between Pearce and Salopek in my opinion. Surj and Symes not far behind either

[Porthos]

If the award is for going from "Delist" to "Good", Surjan for sure.
If the award is for going from "Looking good" to "Holy ****!", its Pearce.

[Natman]

For a 'thank God' type improvement my vote is for Symes - we played the one game in 2004 and then was off the radar for quite a while and now give us pretty consistent ball gathering performances across HB.

[oporto]

The much maligned Surjan, for mine. Unlike most of our other candidates, he has been used in a variety of roles this year and by and large has done the job for the team - job on Kerr springs to mind.

I still think he is holding back, finding his feet and testing the boundaries that coaches allow young players to exercise. His break out game was clearly against Hawthorn. If/when he plays like that consistently he will become the player our team needs him to be.

[Toots Hibbert]

Don't make me choose between Pearce and the Surj.

The Surj looked like a useless nut case early last year. Now he reminds me of the second coming of Jarrod Poulton but this time with added skill.

Pearcey made me go WTF last year. This year he's really kicked on and it's wonderful that he wasn't a flash in the pan. He must be more than a blip on other teams' radar screens by now and the fact he's still flourishing shows he's a great long term prospect.

[crazy_big_al]

Symes for me

[Andre]

Putting aside 97 as a baseline, I don't think we've had a year where we've had so much improvement in so many players.

By my reckoning the following have improved (leaving out first year players and others not on our list prior to this year):
Surjan, Pearce, Salopek, Symes, Lade, S. Burgoyne, Chaplin, Ezard, Ebert.

And unlike last year we haven't had a lot go backwards - Tredrea (through injury), K. Cornes, Bishop (further) and Eckermann. Definitely an overall positive year.

For me, the most improved is Pearce.
The most satisfying turnaround would be Surjan.
And one who's progressed to most briliant so far would be Shaun.

[Muunky Tuunk Man]

For me I think Surjan has improved the most however not far behind is Symes and Pearce.

Salopek has been more consistent this year but I don't necessarily see it as a big improvement as such, I think he has stayed healthy this year (for the majority of the year) and is showing what he could have shown earlier if he was injury free. I expect him next year to take off with another pre season underneath him.

[Rory]

Not including Ronaldo (its what I call Pearce) because he is the obvious choice I would have to say Surj. This reason being most our young players are improving game by game but Surj has been at Port 3 years now and needed to start showing something or he was gone. He has done just that with his physical presence and attack on the ball. His skills still require improvements but that is the case for all our youngsters.