Your vote: The top 10 Australian athletes of 2015

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We asked and you voted: count down the top 10 Australian athletes of 2015, as voted by you.

Number 10: Laura Geitz

We'll look back and tell our grandchildren that these were the most amazing moments of our lives.

By James Maasdorp

As far as trophy-laden years go, Laura Geitz's 2015 was tough to beat.

Geitz captained Australia's Diamonds to a Netball World Cup triumph, starring in the final as her crucial defensive efforts kept New Zealand goal-attack Maria Tutaia quiet.

She also performed a key role in getting Australia to a 2-0 Constellation Cup lead over the Silver Ferns before being rested, an effort which turned out to be enough for the Diamonds to defend the title with the series eventually ending up a 2-2 draw.

But Geitz's crowning moment came in the domestic final in a result that saw the trans-Tasman netball championship storm the nation's back pages, in the Queensland Firebirds' thrilling 57-56 win over the NSW Swifts.

The Firebirds looked down and out for all money heading in to the final minute, before the hosts dramatically levelled the game with 35 seconds to go.

Gretel Tippett put the Firebirds in front with one of the last shots of the season, before Geitz made the telling intercept in defence to end the match and send the home supporters in Brisbane into delirium.

"The 11 girls standing behind me are just the most incredible girls that I could ever wish to play the game of netball with. Every second has been enjoyable," Geitz said.

Number 9: Nat Fyfe

This genuinely is a Fremantle Football Club medal tonight, I mean Bruce (McAvaney) you could probably win a Brownlow Medal with Aaron Sandilands hitting it down your throat.

By Dean Bilton

A scruffy-haired "hillbilly" from country WA, Nat Fyfe secured his rise to the very top of the AFL in 2015 winning as many hearts as he did Brownlow votes along the way.

On the field, Fyfe was an irresistible force. With legs like tree trunks, hands like buckets and an incredible appetite for the footy, the Dockers midfielder made the league his own for three glorious months.

That he could become Fremantle's first ever Brownlow medallist after missing so many games through injury was pretty remarkable, but was a testament to just how good Fyfe was when he was fit. The Brownlow makes sure his name deservedly sits with the likes of Chris Judd and Gary Ablett as the very best players of this century.

But if anybody hadn't completely surrendered their hearts when watching him play, they surely would have when watching Fyfe speak. He turned up to the Brownlow with a walking stick, for crying out loud, and managed to look like James Bond in the process.

Fyfe kept the entire country captivated throughout his acceptance speech - as endearing, humble and cliche-free a speech as you could imagine - and immediately became one of those incredibly rare players that transcends team allegiances.

At 24-years-old, the best is surely yet to come for Nat Fyfe, and if 2015 is anything to go by, it will be a treat to watch.

Number 8: Tim Cahill

I still know I can change games, I still know I can write my own script and at the same time affect football in Australia in a big way.

By Dan Colasimone

There was a sense in the build up to the 2015 Asian Cup that Australia's highest-profile player, Tim Cahill, would have a slightly diminished role in the team.

The Socceroos' all-time top scorer had been excellent at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, but at the age of 36, he would surely now become more of a bit-part fixer; a talisman brought off the bench when a touch of magic was needed?

Yeah, nah. Timmy was having none of that. Playing at the centre of an attacking trident, Cahill started Australia's opening game against Kuwait and promptly scored his side's first goal of the competition, sweeping in a low cross from Massimo Luongo to kick-start a 4-1 win.

From that point on it was clear Cahill would be at the forefront of the Socceroos' charge, as they went on to record a historic first-ever major tournament victory.

Coach Ange Postecoglou managed his main strike weapon's minutes expertly, with Cahill starting every game bar one - Australia's first-round loss to South Korea.

The highlight of his tournament was undoubtedly his Brisbane brace against China in the quarter-finals. The opener was a sensational overhead goal which will go on Cahill's mantlepiece alongside his already-legendary strike against the Netherlands in Brazil, while the second was among the finest power-headers in a career packed with fine headers.

And tenacious Tim is obviously not done yet; he continues to bang in goals for club side Shanghai Shenhua and for Australia, where his last start against Bangladesh netted him a hat-trick.

Number 7: Ellyse Perry

Across the board ... we've got women's soccer doing fantastically, the cricket, the netballers - sport's such a huge part of our culture in Australia and it's really nice to see females doing as well as men.

By Jon Healy

Ellyse Perry is the epitome of an all-rounder and not just because she has played two sports at an international level.

These days, Perry is a cricketer first and foremost and the renewed focus has done wonders for her already top-of-the-line game.

Like the men's team, the Southern Stars' season was centred around their Ashes and Perry brought all her weapons to the table, topping the run-scoring (264 at 33) and wicket-taking (16 at 13.43) in the series.

A lot of the talk about her leading into the multi-format series focused on her brilliant bowling, but she let her bat do the talking in the ODIs and it spoke loudly to the tune of 193 runs in three innings.

When her batting failed her in the Test match, she stepped up with the ball and took nine wickets before adding four wickets and 53 runs in three Twenty20s to end the series.

All told, Perry produced the quintessential all-rounder's performance, averaging two wickets and 33 runs per innings and she was named the player of the series as the Southern Stars took home the Ashes.

The only way she could have had a better year is if she had earned selection for the Matildas' World Cup squad.

Number 6: Mick Fanning

Surfing's got me through the hardest times in my life, so to turn my back on surfing wouldn't be right.

By Dan Colasimone

Not many athletes face the prospect, as they go about contesting their respective sports, of a confrontation with a primeval predator.

Surfers are different like that. They're different from other athletes in a lot of ways, but particularly in their willingness to paddle out into the dark blue yonder despite the threat, however miniscule it is, of running across a shark.

That (great white) point was illustrated in astonishing fashion on July 20 during the J-Bay Open World Surf League event in South Africa, when one of the world's best-known surfers, Mick Fanning, was knocked off his board by a thrashing shark.

Fanning forgot completely about competing in the final of the Jeffreys Bay event against fellow Aussie Julian Wilson, and started fighting for his life. After a brief scrap the shark lost interest and the contest jet-ski plucked Fanning out of the water leaving him physically unharmed but mentally shaken up.

The 34-year-old's comments once he was out of the water were almost as amazing as the vision of the whole thing unfolding on live television.

"I just saw fin - I didn't see the teeth, I was waiting for some teeth to come at me as I was swimming. I punched it in the back," he said.

"I saw the whole thing just thrashing around ... I punched it a couple of times, but I felt like it was dragging me under water.

"Then all of a sudden my leg rope broke and I was swimming and screaming."

You would forgive anyone for not going within cooee of the ocean after such an experience, but Fanning barely missed a beat. Just when his fellow surfers thought it was safe to go back in the water, 'White Lightning' dove straight back into his push for a fourth world surfing title.

A traumatic year only got worse for Fanning as he fought for the crown at the Pipe Masters in Hawaii, as news came through of his brother's passing. Once again, Fanning somehow pushed that anguish aside and got on with it.

He may have narrowly missed out on the title to Adriano de Souza, but Fanning earned immeasurable respect in 2015 from the world of surfing and well beyond.

Number 5: Steve Smith

Hopefully, first and foremost, I can keep making runs. That's pretty important to me - to make sure I'm leading from the front.

By Dean Bilton

From ungainly leg spinner to Australian Test captain and the best batsman in the world, Steve Smith's sharp rise continued in 2015.

He started the year as temporary Test skipper and ended it with the job full time, compiling an incredible 1,270 runs at 63.50 (before the Boxing Day Test) in the process. Smith's runs often look unusual, but in 2015 they just kept on stacking up.

A ton in the first match of the year, against India in Sydney, ensured he became the first Australian captain to hit three centuries in his first three Tests in charge, and by June he was the ICC's number one batsman in the world.

While Australia floundered in the Ashes, Smith was one of the few to stand up. He hit his highest Test score of 215 at Lord's, and while a rare run of low scores immediately followed, he ended the series with another century at The Oval. In a bowler's Ashes, Smith still found a way to score.

There was the 199 against the West Indies, the ton in Perth against New Zealand, not to mention a hundred in Australia's victorious World Cup semi-final against India. The runs kept on coming, as an ever-maturing cricketer continued to prove his unique knowledge of his own game.

Captaining Australia's Test cricket team is an immense responsibility, one that Smith is feeling his way into. By the end of 2015 the 'Captain Grumpy' jibes had begun, but in time Smith will establish his own style. 2015 is just the beginning.

Number 4: David Pocock

It's always an honour to be recognised by your peers. They are the ones you play alongside and against and, at the end of the day, their opinion really does matter, so it's a huge honour.

By James Maasdorp

After two years riddled by two knee reconstructions, David Pocock looked set to make it three years in the injury wilderness when his knee gave out again in March.

The fact he came back from the brink to utterly dominate Australia's Rugby World Cup campaign - when his spot was under such severe competition from the likes of Michael Hooper, Liam Gill and even the newly eligible George Smith - was one of the more remarkable stories of the year.

His lead-up to the World Cup also saw him strengthen his reputation as a man to make a stand on social issues, when he made a strong stance for gay rights during a Super Rugby clash against the Waratahs, complaining to the referee that a NSW player had made homophobic slurs.

Pocock scored two memorable hat-tricks for the Brumbies as his form gained momentum until he was a confirmed member of the Wallabies team bidding to snatch back the Webb Ellis trophy.

He was at the centre of Australia's new-found power and reliability in the forward pack - for so long a weakness in the Wallabies' armour - as they bulldozed England out of their own tournament in the group stages, while also accounting for Wales, before beating Scotland in the quarter-finals.

Argentina's usual strength in the scrum may have been a game-winner against Australian teams of old, but Pocock's charges held strong to reach a fourth World Cup final.

They ultimately lost to the all-conquering All Blacks, but making the tournament's showpiece match capped a sensational 2015 for Pocock, who walked off with the Rugby Union Player's Association medal for excellence for the second time in his career.

Number 3: Michelle Payne

I just wanted to say that everyone else [can] get stuffed, because they think women aren't strong enough but we just beat the world.

By Andrew McGarry

When Michelle Payne was a child, she told her friends at school that one day she would ride the winner of the Melbourne Cup.

It was not as far-fetched as it sounded, given she later became the eighth of 10 children to become a jockey.

Even so, it was a triumph that no one predicted when Payne made history as the first female jockey to win the Cup on board 100-1 long shot Prince of Penzance.

New Zealand hoop Maree Lyndon (Argonaut Style, 1987) and Australians Clare Lindop (Debben, 2003 and Dolphin Jo, 2007) and Lisa Cropp (Sculptor, 2007) had blazed a trail before her as female jockeys to ride in the big race, but Payne topped them all when she produced the ride that stopped a nation on the Darren Weir-trained bay gelding.

She settled Prince of Penzance mid-field on the fence, got a cart forward behind Trip To Paris, then timed her run to perfection in the straight to win by half a length.

Payne took advantage of the huge media interest in her win to call out sexism in the racing industry, and sent a crystal clear message to the doubters.

"I just wanted to say that everyone else [can] get stuffed, because they think women aren't strong enough but we just beat the world," she said.

Number 2: Jason Day

It's an amazing feeling, this has been a dream since I've been 12 years old - to stand up in front of a crowd like this and hold the PGA (title) is really special.

By James Maasdorp

For so long in the golfing shadow of compatriot Adam Scott, Jason Day has not only surpassed his fellow Aussie, he's entered another league entirely.

But Day's journey to the holy grail of a golfing major was far from straight-forward. It was more of an emotional roller-coaster, with very literal drops and soaring heights.

Showing terrific form in the US Masters, many thought Day could take the game to the red-hot Jordan Spieth, only for a bout of vertigo to derail his charge.

After missing out on a spot in the play-off at St Andrews, by the time the PGA Championship came around, catching golf's newest sensation in Spieth looked an impossible mission.

Step forward Day, who held his nerve to seal a three-shot win over the American, in a record low score for a major at a remarkable 20-under-par overall.

"I didn't expect to cry. A lot of emotion came out. I've been so close [to a major] so many times. To play the way I did ... I could tell that he (Spieth) was the favourite, and to play the way I did and to finish the way I did was special," he said.

He became the fifth Australian to claim the PGA Championship title, en route to trading places at world number one with Spieth, in a new era of golf characterised by a three way battle for supremacy that includes Rory McIlroy.

A major title, the number one ranking and a fantastic run in the play-off series saw Day close out the year with the Greg Norman Medal for Australia's best-performing international golfer.

Number 1: Johnathan Thurston

They've waited 20 years for this moment. They've ridden the highs, they've ridden the lows with us, and it makes it all the more sweeter to bring the holy grail of rugby league back to Townsville.

By Jon Healy

After putting together a lifetime's worth of amazing performances and falling just short with North Queensland, Johnathan Thurston decided to stop mucking around and effectively put together a perfect season in 2015.

The Cowboys had huge expectations on them heading into this year but it looked like they were set for another season of disappointment when, on the brink of an 0-4 start, they trailed Melbourne by seven points with two and a half minutes left in round four.

But Thurston was having none of it and laid on a try, kicked the sideline conversion, booted a field goal to tie it up, and slotted the golden-point match-winner.

It was a microcosm of their season and kicked off an 11-game winning streak that culminated in a third-place finish and a grand-final berth against 'big brother' Brisbane.

Yet again, his team was down in the dying moments and yet again, Thurston took control - ducking and weaving out of tackles to keep alive the play that ended in a game-tying try to Kyle Feldt.

With the pressure on and exhaustion taking hold, he couldn't quite nail the sideline conversion to win the game, but made up for it with another clutch field goal in extra time to secure North Queensland's first grand final.

"I can't believe what I have just done. I love these boys, they have worked so hard ... I see them every day, the sacrifices that they make, what they do for us every day. I love the club. Wow, I can't believe it," he said in one of the most emotional post-match interviews you'll ever see.

On top of the premiership, his near-perfect year was recognised with a record fourth Dally M Medal, a record third Golden Boot, a Clive Churchill Medal and another State of Origin series victory with Queensland.

Topics: sport, australia

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