Not much went to plan for Oscar Allen in 2022. 

In February, his impressive pre-season ground to a halt when a stress-related foot injury popped up out of the blue. 

It was a worrying sign on the eve of an important season for the exciting tall forward - and in the midst of a run of injury carnage for the Eagles.

Despite a conservative approach from West Coast medicos with one of the club’s most promising players, Allen’s fifth campaign in blue and gold never got going, with the 23-year-old ruled out for the year by mid-May.  

The word ‘frustrating’ only begins to tell the story, especially with Allen extra keen to make an on-field impact in a season when he had been elevated to the leadership group.

But the mature young Eagle refused to let his disappointment seep through the playing group, or let the season go to waste. 

Instead, he got to work, helping guide younger teammates through a challenging year, and supporting the coaches from the bench on gameday, to the point where he was recognised with the coveted Chris Mainwaring Medal as Best Clubman at season’s end.

“It was a huge honour,” Allen said. 

“It probably wasn’t something I was expecting in the midst of what was a frustrating year individually and collectively as a side. 

“I tried to contribute in whatever way I could around the footy club and I was really proud that I was recognised for that, and really proud that I was able to receive such an award where so many great men have won it before me as well.

“In the leadership sense I grew a lot. I had to figure out different ways to try and communicate with the playing group and probably became a little bit more understanding of what it takes to become a successful football club. 

“I had a lot of great conversations with coaches and some of the senior players and really understood a little bit more about what goes into being a good side on game day, rather than just training hard. All the little things that come with it.”

Following in the footsteps of some high-quality characters – including Mainwaring himself – by receiving the Best Clubman award was just the latest accolade in Allen’s budding career. 

He was the Larke medallist as the standout player in the 2017 national under-18s championships, before becoming a Rising Star nominee and West Coast’s Emerging Talent Award winner in 2019. 

The sky is seemingly the limit for the West Perth product, and pleasingly his foot and body are set to allow him to attack a crucial pre-season for the team and himself in the post-Josh Kennedy era.

Contracted for a further three seasons, there is no doubt the emerging goalkicker will be a key plank in the Eagles’ rebuild, which showed encouraging progress towards the end of last season.

“There were a lot of promising signs,” Allen enthused. 

“Individuals like Brady Hough, Rhett Bazzo, Connor West, Greg Clark all came in and played some senior footy for either the first time or at the start of their career. 

“Collectively as a side we were really competitive in the last eight or nine games and, although we didn’t get the results, I think in the long run that will pay us back those young players experiencing some high intensity football. 

“Now we just have to learn how to replicate that for a whole game and hopefully put away some teams when we have an opportunity to.”