Rokahr rewarded for brilliant season with Sandover Medal

Nik Rokahr wasn’t getting too ahead of himself even when leading the Sandover Medal count having lost the Magarey Medal twice in the last round, but the prolific Swan Districts midfielder was rewarded with a win on Monday night.

Rokahr joined Swan Districts for the 2024 WAFL season and has been outstanding in the midfield for a Swans team that finished the home and away season in third position, and now are preparing for a home preliminary final this Sunday against Peel Thunder.

He arrived at Swans on the back of four brilliant SANFL seasons with Norwood where twice he was runner-up in the Magarey Medal vote count while winning a premiership with the Redlegs and winning two fairest and best awards.

That came on the back of growing up in the Victorian heartland of Shepparton where he won a premiership in 2018 ahead of making the move to South Australia, and now his successful journey continued with Swan Districts.

The 29-year-old had a brilliant season with Swan Districts averaging 30 possessions a game and in the end shared the Sandover Medal on Monday night with Claremont's Callan England with the pair finishing on 19 votes apiece.

Rokahr becomes the first player from Swan Districts to win a Sandover Medal since Sam Fisher in 2020 while going back further, he joins Andrew Krakouer, Shane Beros, Jeremy Wasley, Mick Grasso, Phil Narkle, Bill Walker (four-time winner), Haydn Bunton Jr, Jim Davies and George Krepp.

Not time to celebrate yet

While proud and humbled to win the Sandover Medal on Monday night as reward for a brilliant first season in the WAFL with Swan Districts, Rokahr hopes there are two more wins to focus on first before thinking about celebrating.

"Hopefully we've got two more weeks ahead of us and ideally we'll get the ultimate, and then we can all celebrate together," Rokahr told 91.3 SportFM.

"I think in the past when I've had some sort of experience of this sort of stuff, it can take a couple of weeks for you to put the feet up and let it all sink in so I still think it's a few weeks away for that time to come."

Journey to become Sandover Medallist

It's been quite the journey for Rokahr to now be able to join West Australian football folklore as a Sandover Medal winner having grown up in Shepparton and beginning his career in Victorian country football.

He won a premiership with his hometown team in 2018 and since then has spent a season with the Southern Districts and won a flag in the Northern Territory Football League while also spending time in the VFL for Geelong.

The past four years saw him play in the SANFL with Norwood where he was part of the 2022 premiership and winning 2021 and 2023 fairest and best awards.

However, it was more of a lifestyle change that he was after and with his partner being a WA local, the move to Perth was the next step in 2024 and while it's a remarkable journey, it's not one he's ready to reflect fully on just yet.

"I think it's once I'm towards the end and hanging up the boots at this level is when I'll think about the whole journey a little bit more, but when you think about it, it is a bit of a shock where I've come from and where I am to be honest," Rokahr said.

"You had Will Brodie and Jye Chalcraft up there in the count as well and they both are from Shepparton as well, and one of my closest mates and old housemate and teammate just won the Magarey Medal as well on the same night.

"We're all from Shepparton and they're producing the good out that way at the moment, but I think I'll have to wait a little longer until it all settles in."

How vote count panned out

Consistency was the great strength of the season that Rokahr produced with Swan Districts with him averaging 30 possessions a game with a best of 42 against Subiaco and having no fewer than 20 in every game of the season.

However, by halfway through the vote count in the Sandover Medal and he was a long way off and didn’t think winning was a possibility, but he finished with a bang and then had to sit nervously through the final round hoping he wasn’t going to be pipped again.

"It was funny, I think I polled in Round 1 and then didn’t poll again until Round 11 so I was starting to think these blokes didn’t know my name," Rokahr said.

"I thought by around Round 6 when I wasn’t getting any votes that it was it for my chances, but then it all sort of happened so quickly in the second half of the year and I didn’t really have enough time for it to sink in.

"It just happened so quickly and all of a sudden I was on the top of the leaderboard. I was a little bit nervous going into the last round because it happened twice in the Magarey where I'd pipped in the last round, and I knew I wasn’t going to get any votes.

"So in the last round I was nervous for sure but I think Schloithe was the only one who could go in front of me and there were a few who could draw with me, and I was pretty stoked to be in that position."

Settling into new home

Having already played his football in Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory, Rokahr was confident that the way he plays his football would translate wherever he decided to next stop at.

However, the move to Perth was all about the lifestyle and moving closer to home for his partner and having been in town for almost 12 months now, he could see himself wanting to stay a lot longer.

"Obviously my partner's from over this way and for me it was a life decision," Rokahr said.

"I love my football and I strive to be the best player I can and we're in a really good position as a football club, and things are going really well there. But for me it's more a matter of the lifestyle and everything outside of football that's important, and at this stage I'm pretty settled over here.

"I don’t know what the future holds and I don't think anyone really knows for sure, but I'm liking my time in Perth at the moment and it's a beautiful place to live. I'm pretty settled here that's for sure."

Turning focus to preliminary final

While Rokahr is rightfully proud to now be able to call himself a Sandover Medallist, it's quickly put on the backburner with the focus on Sunday's preliminary final against Peel at Steel Blue Oval.

Swans did beat Peel two weeks ago in a qualifying final which Rokahr and his teammates will take heart from, but they also know they will need to play a lot better on Sunday to beat them again and to book in a Grand Final clash at Optus Stadium against East Perth.

"We're injury free this week which is pleasing after a tough couple of weeks with some injuries and a suspension, but we've learned a lot in those two finals that's for sure," Rokahr said.

"We looked back on the game against East Perth and we were not happy with how we played. There were a few small things that we can correct that are within our control but to East Perth's credit, they were superb and showed why they finished on top.

"We still take a lot of confidence from our last game against Peel, but we know they will be even harder to try and beat again, but we are up for the fight and we just want to play now and get into it."