Jye Amiss has received well-deserved recognition for his 2023 season so far with the AFL Rising Star nomination for round 11.
The 19-year-old starred against Narrm with three goals and a career-high 14 disposals, but his body of work in 2023 has seen him in consideration for a nomination all year.
Amiss currently leads Walyalup’s goalkicking with 19 goals from 10 games, including three goal efforts against Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Geelong and Narrm.
His hauls against Narrm and Hawthorn also included two goal assists as he brings his fellow forwards into the game.
Amiss was drafted at no.8 in the 2021 National Draft, with the pick coming to the Club in the trade with Carlton for Adam Cerra.
The 196cm key forward has added significant size in his time at the Club, adding 8kg in a year where he also battled a kidney injury from a marking contest playing for Peel against South Fremantle.
Amiss now has 13 games of AFL experience and said the nomination was recognition for the work he and his teammates are putting in behind the scenes.
“It (the nomination) is something that you don’t really think about, you know it’s there, but I just take it game by game and see what happens,” Amiss said.
“As a team we played really well. It was good to get the win.
“The more games we play together, the better our ball movement will be, and I’m able to keep bringing my strengths and improving each week.”
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Amiss has developed under the guidance of assistant coach Jaymie Graham, who Amiss has credited for instilling a sense of confidence.
“Jaymie and I have a really good relationship,” Amiss said.
“I’m in his office a couple of times a week catching up, whether it’s reviews or oppo preview.
“He’s been really good for extra touch sessions, he’ll come and grab me, or I’ll go and grab him. We work really well together.
“It’s the coaching staff, the players around me. The whole group has really good trust in me that I’m going to go out there and play my role, we’re communicating and giving feedback.”
Against Narrm, Amiss went head-to-head with arguably the league’s most imposing defensive duo in Jake Lever and Steven May, who are both All Australian defenders.
Lever was limited to seven disposals and May eight in what was the first time the pair were both held to under 10 disposals when they have played together.
According to Amiss, Graham has helped the 19-year-old prepare for any situation on the field.
“(In our Melbourne preparation) the first thing he said was, teams each week are going to keep throwing different things, whether it’s at me or the other forwards,” Amiss said.
“When you’re going well, the other teams are going to try different stuff. He said to just keep playing to my strengths.”
Amiss’s highlight against Narrm wasn’t any of his three goals, but his maturity to hold up the play before delivering inside 50 to Lachie Schultz in the final term.
“We don’t want to just bomb the ball in, May and Lever like to roll back and line a ball up,” Amiss said.
“That kick there, if I kicked it in quickly, it’s an easy intercept mark for them.
“It was taking some composure, slowing the game down a bit and waiting for the forwards to get down there and then just get the ball in deep and long.
“Each week we’re going to keep building that chemistry with each other. With a young team, we’re going to keep improving each week.”
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