Rocky Collins wins 2016 Ross Elliott medal

The Rockingham midfielder has been inundated with messages of congratulations since his victory, as he labelled the win a surreal feeling.

“I definitely didn’t go there expecting to take out the medal – we have so many talented footballers in the league and it was just a huge surprise,” he said.

“I thought I’d get pipped in the last few rounds of the count.”

Collins led the count by three votes heading into the final round, meaning victory was assured. When he polled one vote in Rockingham’s final game of the season, he cemented his spot as the lone winner.

“I actually forgot how much I was on and my wife leaned over and said 'you actually can’t lose now' and I thought ‘wow, you’re right’,” he said.

“It’s slowly starting to sink in and it’s really nice seeing all the text messages of congratulations.”

Collins holding his lead late is an astounding effort for a player who played the last four games of the season with a broken foot.

When reflecting on his season, the former Victorian Football League midfielder said he felt he could have done more, but was proud of how far the Rockingham Football Club had come in 2016.

“I usually set pretty high standards for myself and looking back I thought I could have done more throughout the year,” he said.

“But when I was chatting to some of the boys last night and they were pointing out some of my good games it kind of dawned on me that I did actually have a pretty good year.

“As a team, we started the year just wanting to be more competitive and I’m really proud that we achieved that.”

Collins pointed to his side’s close clashes against minor premiers Baldivis as high points for 2016.

The assistant principal by day also took on a variety of roles around the club, including coaching and mentoring younger players.

“At the start of the year we really wanted to turn our culture around and make Rockingham a better place for people to be, and that starts with setting a standard for the younger boys,” he said.

“I love Rockingham and I love helping the young kids come through.”

The award comes almost 12 months after Collins nearly retired from football.

“I was close to calling it a day and wasn’t really enjoying my footy as much as I have previously,” he said.

“But I sat down with my wife and she said ‘look, if you’re not enjoying it you can either leave or you can make a change’, so I decided to go on and I’m really glad I did.”