Adelaide’s Daniel Talia was the deserving recipient of the 2012 AFL Rising Star Award, polling 43 of a possible 45 votes to finish eight votes clear of second-placed Giants forward Jeremy Cameron.
In total, eight of the 22 nominated players received at least one vote from the selection committee consisting of Andrew Demetriou, Adrian Anderson, Danny Frawley, Kevin Bartlett, Mark Ricciuto, Luke Darcy, Glen Jakovich, Gerard Healy and Kevin Sheehan.
Beams and Golby, who were nominated in Rounds 1 and 8 respectively, showed plenty of promise in their breakthrough season, but probably didn’t play enough senior matches to demand a vote from selectors.
Beams’ nomination came in the opening match of the 2012 season when he collected 25 disposals and laid five tackles in the team’s win against Melbourne.
A minor back injury kept him sidelined after Round 3, and he struggled to find his way back into the senior team for the remainder of the season.
It wasn’t until Round 20 that he was recalled to the side, and he grew in confidence with each match.
The young Queenslander then finished the year off in the same fashion he started it - with a career-high 26 disposals and five tackles against the Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, Golby was arguably the Club’s biggest improver in 2012 before a stress reaction in his foot cut his campaign short after Round 14.
The Kilcunda-Bass recruit averaged a career-high 18.5 disposals in his 13 matches, and cemented his place among the Lions’ back six.
They join 38 other Lions players (including Fitzroy and Bears) to have received an AFL Rising Star nomination since the award was introduced in 1993.
Club Rising Star Nominees
Nathan Chapman (Bears) - Round 3, 1993
Nathan Buckley (Bears) - Round 7, 1993*
John Barker (Fitzroy) - Round 3, 1994
Jarrod Molloy (Fitzroy) - Round 5, 1994
Chris Scott (Bears) - Round 7, 1994*
Simon Hawking (Fitzroy) - Round 13, 1994
Matthew Clarke (Bears) - Round 14, 1994
Chris Johnson (Fitzroy) - Round 21, 1994
Steve Lawrence (Bears) - Round 5, 1995
Matthew Primus (Fitzroy) - Round 1, 1996
Nick Carter (Fitzroy) - Round 8, 1996
Daniel Bradshaw (Lions) - Round 8, 1997
Luke Power (Lions) - Round 2, 1998
Shane O’Bree (Lions) - Round 1, 1999
Simon Black (Lions) - Round 9, 1999
Luke Power (Lions) - Round 17, 1999
Tim Notting (Lions) - Round 21, 1999
Beau McDonald (Lions) - Round 13, 2000
Damian Cupido (Lions) - Round 1, 2001
Robert Copeland (Lions) - Round 19, 2001
Jamie Charman (Lions) - Round 21, 2002
Jared Brennan (Lions) - Round 4, 2003
Ashley McGrath (Lions) - Round 22, 2003
Richard Hadley (Lions) - Round 12, 2004
Justin Sherman (Lions) - Round 6, 2005
Jed Adcock (Lions) - Round 12, 2005
Troy Selwood (Lions) - Round 15, 2005
Anthony Corrie (Lions) - Round 17, 2005
Michael Rischitelli (Lions) - Round 8, 2006
Cheynee Stiller (Lions) - Round 13, 2006
Matthew Moody (Lions) - Round 15, 2006
Cameron Wood (Lions) - Round 2, 2007
Mitch Clark (Lions) - Round 9, 2007
Bradd Dalziell (Lions) - Round 21, 2008
Daniel Rich (Lions) - Round 1, 2009*
Todd Banfield (Lions) - Round 6, 2010
Tom Rockliff (Lions) - Round 13, 2010
Jack Redden (Lions) - Round 15, 2010
Claye Beams (Lions) - Round 1, 2012
Mitch Golby (Lions) - Round 8, 2012
*Player won the Rising Star Award at season's end
