IT was a remarkable season for Trent Copeland in 2015-16 and he finished it in remarkable fashion on Saturday night when he was named the NSW Sheffield Shield player of the year.

The Blues held their annual awards night and anointed Nic Maddinson as their overall star for the summer. He claimed the Steve Waugh Medal for the best player to don the blue cap across both the Sheffield Shield and Matador Cup formats.

But despite only playing five matches – half the season – after returning from a long term back injury, Copeland trumped all comers when it came to the Sheffield Shield poll.

He recorded 17.5 votes to pip Maddinson by half a point and young up-and-comer Kurtis Patterson by 2.5 points.

Incredibly it wasn’t the first time Copeland has done it either. 

In his debut summer of 2009-10, he didn’t pull on the blue cap until the sixth match of the season but claimed the same award.

For the former Rugby Union first grader it was a sensational achievement, given the circumstances of his summer and his comeback.

Copeland looked a little rusty in his first couple of games back as he faced Western Australia in consecutive games, one in New Zealand, and his figures, like those of his team-mates, were expensive.

But with three games to go before the final he bumped the Blues into contention thanks to hauls of 5-62 against South Australia, 7-58 against Tasmania and a match haul of 5-100 against Victoria.

He also made a vital 47 not out to help his side pull off a big run chase against South Australia and hit 47 in the low-scoring encounter with Victoria.

It wasn’t quite enough to get NSW into the final and Victoria were able to secure back-to-back titles by defeating South Australia last week in Glenelg.

“I didn’t give myself any chance, I had the jacket firmly planted on my chair and had enjoyed a few beers by that stage and was settled in, I wasn’t expecting to have to go on stage and deliver a speech,” he said.

“I spent a bit of time up there just speaking about the last 18 months and how every athlete, no matter what sport they play, if they spend 18 months out of it dealing with a serious injury there are always doubts about whether they can come back.

“There were doubts for me as to whether I’d be as effective as I was before I got injured. But it gave me some perspective on how much it means to me just to own a baggy blue cap, let alone have the chance to keep wearing it.”

It was a big weekend for the Bathurst family as Copeland’s younger brother Ryan Peacock was named the Bathurst District Junior Cricket Association’s player of the season.

Copeland won the same award in season 2001-02.

While it remains a long way off, there was a growing section of the public – if social media was any guide at least – who believe Copeland’s exploits were enough to put him back in the frame for a Test return.

The obsession with pace bowling seemed to have dimmed among the selectors during the summer, with a bowler of a similar ilk in Jackson Bird making a successful comeback to five day cricket in New Zealand.

But it isn’t something the Bathurst product has thought about.

“My perspective is all about enjoying my cricket and just giving it everything while I’m out there, as if it is my last game,” he said.

“Test selection is well and truly off the radar, I just want to keep taking wickets and scoring runs for New South Wales. The bar does get re-adjusted every now and then, especially after you miss a lot of cricket.

“I won’t be able to go and play in England this year again because of eligibility issues, so I’ll be putting my feet up, playing a lot of golf, and watching [wife] Kim play netball. They [the Sydney Swifts] had a great start on Sunday and she was MVP for the game.”