AHEAD of the 2018 Port Adelaide Football Club Best and Fairest event on October 5, we thought we would profile some of the players who could be in contention to win the coveted A. R. McLean Medal as the best player in the club’s SANFL side.

Billy Frampton took his game up a notch in 2018, finishing the season as the lead ruckman for the Magpies after competing with two others at times during the year.

He finished 2018 playing his debut AFL game in the Round 23 loss to Essendon as reward for his hard work.

The 21-year-old regularly contributed with goals while resting forward, showing versatility in his game.

Key stats

Frampton played 16 of the 18 SANFL games in 2018, but became a reliable presence late in the season when the Magpies lacked tall options.

He was a regular ball-winner at times, recording 7.8 kicks, 5.6 handballs on average per game.

He took 72 marks for the season including 15 of them contested, and had a team-high 355 hit-outs at an average of 22.2 per game.

The 200-centimetre ruck/forward contributed on the ground as well averaging 2.75 tackles per game.

Key games

Frampton started his season strongly with two goals against Adelaide in a game where he also had 15 disposals, six marks and eight hit-outs.

He stepped up in Round 2 to deliver a game-high 26 hit-outs and a goal to go with 17 disposals, six marks and five tackles in the narrow last-gasp win over Glenelg.

Round 6 saw Frampton notch 32 hit-outs, 22 possessions, six marks, five tackles and a goal while he also played a critical role in the Round 11 win over reigning premier Sturt with 32 hit-outs and 12 touches.

Playing more as a forward in Round 15 against Glenelg, he booted two goals and had 19 disposals to go with 19 hit-outs, four tackles, and seven marks.

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