Bock, 25, won his first Malcolm Blight Medal and Gold Jacket with 162 votes from captain and three-time winner Simon Goodwin (151) and Scott Thompson (147).
The presentation was held tonight in front of 900 guests at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Bock is the 11th player to win the Adelaide club champion award. He is the first ‘new’ winner of the award since Goodwin won the first of his medals in 2000. Since then, Andrew McLeod, Ben Hart, Mark Ricciuto and Goodwin have shared all the awards.
Bock tonight also received the Crows Home Loan Members’ Most Valuable Player award.
Votes for the club champion award were distributed on a 4-3-2-1-0 basis by the five coaches – Neil Craig, assistants Ben Hart, Paul Hamilton, David Noble and Peter Jonas - with Noble and Jonas sharing the duty. This system allows for a maximum of 16 votes for a player in any round.
Bock, who led count all the way from round three, polled votes in 22 of the 23 games, only missing out in the club’s round nine loss to West Coast at Subiaco. His highest return was 14 votes in round 12 (against Hawthorn) and he received 13 votes in rounds two and 13.
Thompson polled the highest individual score for any round, securing 15 votes for his round 11 performance against Richmond.
Bock, a rookie draft selection in 2002 from SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens, made his AFL debut in 2004. He played 18 matches in his first season, mainly as a forward. But after starting the 2005 season in the SANFL, Bock made the most of his opportunities when promoted to play at centre half-back. A back injury restricted him to seven matches in 2006 but in the past two seasons he has played 45 out of a possible 46 games for a career total of 86.
Other 2008 award winners were Michael Doughty (Best Team Man, sponsored by City of Charles Sturt and adidas); Nathan Bock (Members’ Most Valuable Player, sponsored by Crows Home Loan); Richard Douglas (Coach’s Award, sponsored by AFC Vice Presidents and Brooksy’s Good Guys Mile End); David Mackay (Mark Bickley Award, sponsored by the Crows Supporter Group); Kurt Tippett (Emerging Talent award, sponsored by AFC Chairman’s Circle and Bianco Construction Supplies) and Brett Burton (Leading Goalkicker award, sponsored by AFC Premiership Club and SkyCity).
2008 Club Champion top ten leaderboard
162 – Nathan Bock
151 – Simon Goodwin
147 – Scott Thompson
137 – Tyson Edwards
135 – Michael Doughty
130 – Nathan van Berlo
118 – Robert Shirley
116 – Scott Stevens
115 – Jason Porplyzia
114 – Andrew McLeod
