But the young captain led his Tigers to a historic finals berth this season after the club entered recess for a year in 2023, and steered the ship as the yellow and black defeated KDL titans Shepparton East and Nagambie to reach the penultimate weekend of the season.
In doing so, the barometer in the Tigers’ engine room had quietly built a formidable case for the league best and fairest.
Francis could draw comparisons to AFL club skipper Noah Anderson, who is the youngest captain in the top flight first appointed to lead the Gold Coast Suns at 23-years-old, for the season gone by.
Anderson led Gold Coast to its own historic finals appearance and underdog finals win in similar fashion to Francis this year, while tearing up the midfield week in, week out.
But while the skipper of the red, gold and blue was stiff on the AFL’s Brownlow night, the same cannot be said for Francis.
Rushworth’s emerging star polled, and polled well.
Following the opening reading of the leaderboard after seven rounds, Francis was out to a hot start.
And unlike his AFL comparison, there was no teammate to steal votes off of Francis.
Polling 30 votes, the most since 2016, there was never any doubt the gong was Francis’ to claim.
Although, the young star didn’t give himself a sniff.
“There's at least five to six great players in this league who I thought would be up here instead of me,” Francis said.
“I didn’t give myself a shot, no.”
That modest approach lies in large part to an injury hampered start to the season, where Francis played through a groin concern.
But when Francis started polling strongly through his injury-riddled games, belief began to build.
“Definitely having a full preseason helped me this year, it's a no-brainer,” Francis said.
“If you have a full preseason, you’re bound to do well.
“I hurt my groin a bit at the end (of preseason) though, that's why I thought I didn't have a chance.
“But apparently it didn't matter if you polled enough in the first front of the count.”
Rushworth is a club reformed following its one year in recess.
A five-win season in 2024 looked mediocre on paper, but it was the building blocks for the year to come.
Enduring the struggles the club experienced has made the success all the more gratifying for Francis.
“It’s been such a rewarding experience,” he said.
“You've got so many people who are around you, and when you have great teammates you play better.
“That was such a that was such a big part for me, and I've got a lot of older people around me who I’m playing with who taught me a lot, taught me how to be consistent, taught me how to play through injury as well.
“That's been amazing.”
Now, the latest McNamara Medallist joins an exclusive club of Tigers to have their name etched into the prestigious award, and the first Rushworth representative to do since 2002.
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