Young Gold Coast ruckman Tom Nicholls has claimed the round-16 AFL Rising Star nomination for an impressive display against Richmond duo Ivan Maric and Ty Vickery.

Nicholls, 21, played only one game in his first two AFL seasons, before stepping up this year following a serious injury to the Suns’ No.1 ruckman Zac Smith.

He turned in his best performance to date in Saturday’s nine-point loss to Richmond in Cairns, gathering a career-high 18 possessions, six marks, five tackles and 25 hitouts against Maric and Vickery.

Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna said Nicholls was reaping the rewards for the time he had spent developing in the club’s reserves team.

“Tom has done an outstanding job in the absence of Charlie Dixon and Zac Smith,” said McKenna.

“Despite the pair missing with injury, Tom has well and truly deserved his spot in the senior side and has continued to improve game after game.

“Over the past three seasons Tom has been developing his game to the point where he can now compete against some of the most seasoned AFL ruckmen.”

Nicholls, who has Fijian heritage, joins Rising Star favourite Jaeger O’Meara as Gold Coast’s second nominee for the 2013 award.