Sydney Swans midfielder Jake Lloyd has been awarded the Cathy Lees Memorial Award for his breakout 2014 season.

The award is named in the honour of Cathy Lees, the daughter of Alan and Barbara, who are a passionate Swans supporting family. Cathy sadly passed away from cancer at a very young age.

Awarded to the most promising Swans player at the end of each season, the award started in 1998 and has been presented to the likes of Brett Kirk, Tadhg Kennelly and more recently Luke Parker, Sam Reid and Brandon Jack.

The idea for the award came from the Lees' enjoyment of watching the Reserves in action to see who the up and coming stars will be, with Alan still sitting near the race for all SCG curtain raisers.

Jake Lloyd was presented with the Cathy Lees Memorial Award before training on Wednesday.

Starting the year on the rookie list, Lloyd was elevated to the senior list on the eve of the club’s Round 5 match against Fremantle at the SCG.

Named as the substitute for the match, Lloyd, from Horsham in country Victoria, came on in the last quarter and didn’t miss a game for the remainder of the season playing all three finals.

The skilful midfielder averaged 15 disposals, four marks and four tackles in his 21 matches.

Lloyd’s best game was against Brisbane in Round 7 where he collected 29 disposals, eight marks and kicked a goal.

The 21-year-old was also nominated for the AFL Rising Star award for his performance in Round 21 against St Kilda.

Upon receiving the award from Alan and Barbara Lees on Wednesday morning in front of his teammates and coaches, Lloyd said he was extremely grateful.

“Thanks very much for this, it feels great to have won, obviously a lot of good players in this room have won it before me so I’m very honoured, thank you,” Lloyd said.