Perth midfielder Charlie Constable is the WAFL’s 2025 Sandover medallist after an outstanding season, which saw him play a pivotal role in bringing Perth back to finals.
Constable won 29 votes during Monday night’s count, with only two votes separating him and South Fremantle’s Matt Parker at the end of the evening.
The former Geelong player has spent two seasons at Perth, but has already become an important part of the club’s make-up, showing promising signs early on, despite his first injury-interrupted season.
Constable revealed it was disappointment following last season’s ankle injury, which saw him sidelined for 11 weeks, that motivated him to go up another level this year.
“I was pretty devastated when I went down with that ankle injury. Then I felt like, even when I did get back, I wasn’t quite at my best, which I was really disappointed with,” he told SportFM.
“I felt like I let the club down in a way, so over summer, it was just trying to focus on really strengthening that leg back up and come in fit.
“I was able to do all the pre-season, which sets you up for a good season. I’m pretty injury-free at the moment, so hopefully I can do that again and have a similar sort of impact next year too.”
Parker led the count by one vote heading into the final round, but Constable delivered a best on ground performance against Subiaco to overtake Parker, who sat out of the round 20 bout against West Coast due to soreness.
A phenomenal start to the season saw him poll in nine of the first 10 matches, including four best on ground performances to lead the count at the halfway mark.
He says he was proud of what he was able to achieve this season.
“The second half of the year is definitely more challenging than the first half in terms of a little bit more attention,” he said.
“I think what was most enjoyable was the team success we were able to have throughout the season.
“It feels like we’re really starting to build as a club, which is great and really exciting for the next couple of years.”
Constable was arguably Perth’s most significant signing in years, with a mutual connection between him and Fremantle defender and former Geelong teammate Jordan Clark responsible for bringing him to Lathlain.
And he has enthusiastically brought into the club’s goal and hopes of success. The first step – snapping a 28-year finals drought has already been ticked off, now he has his sights set on bringing the club its first flag since 1977.
“It feels like a lot of the pieces of the puzzle were already out there. They just needed to gain a little bit of confidence,” he said.
“There’s some stalwarts of our footy club that have hung around through a lot of tough times, like Matt Taylor and Corey Byrne, and Connor Sing, so it’s great to see them have a little bit more success and really enjoy the environment that we have at the moment.
I think with a lot of young boys in our group, they bring the energy for us, so we all love going to the footy club and training together.
“We’re really disappointed to bundle out of finals, but I think everyone will come back and want to go a few steps further next year.”
FINAL SANDOVER MEDAL COUNT
- Charlie Constable – 29
- Matt Parker – 27
- Milan Murdock – 23
- Hamish Brayshaw, Tom North, Tom Blechynden – 21
IMAGE: WA Football