The midfield gun said it was a "huge honour" to win the award, with the Baggies 200-gamer finishing the count on 18 votes, just ahead of Harrow-Balmoral brothers Simon Close (17 votes) and Michael Close (16 votes).

Typically a winning side will receive more League votes than their opponents, but Carey, who won his first medal back in 2017, didn't expect to poll as well as he did, as his side won six of their 12 games.

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"It's not something you set out to win, but you definitely take it when it comes that's for sure," Carey said.

"I didn't think we probably won enough games to be up there with the likes of Simon Close and Elliott Kelly (15 votes), who I thought were going to be the ones fighting for the top position.

"I thought that I had a reasonable year personally, but not winning enough games never really bodes well for these kinds of things."

Due to lockdown Carey watched the livestream from the comfort of his couch with his girlfriend, and Swifts A Grade netball attacker, Michaela Armer.

With work the next morning he wasn't able to celebrate as one would hope.

"After the count I tried to reply to as many messages as I could and that filled in the rest of the night," he said.

"I haven't actually seen my parents yet or anything like that so it's been a strange one that's for sure."

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According to Carey, the 2021 Dellar Medal win was a lot more "nerve-wracking" than his 2017 victory, where he received a landslide 12 votes more than his nearest opponent.

"To get the votes that I needed in the last game was definitely a surreal thing," he said.

"It was completely different this year, I just thought I played my role and did my job rather than actually stood out. But it looks like the umpires thought I did."

After just missing out on finals this season Carey is really looking forward to 2022 with his beloved club, where it's a given that he'll be lining up again.

"Honestly I never really do sign, I'm just part of the framework there really," he laughed.

"I just love playing football, I love being at the Swifts Football Club and I look forward to every season.

"Every chance that I get to be around the group of people that are at the club I'll take, that's for sure."

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