The announcement was among many highlights at Friday night's pre-Michelsen Medal function at Bendigo Club in Strathdale.

There were close calls in the best and fairest awards for the reserves and under-18 football, and the A-reserve, B-grade, B-reserve and 17-under netball.

Both Rising Star awards were sponsored by Bart 'n' Print.

There were 15 nominees for football's Rising Star award.

Finalists were Strathfieldsaye's Luke Marchesi; Gisborne's Shannon Greetham; Golden Square's Liam Jacques; Castlemaine's Kalan Huntly; Sandhurst's Seb Greene; and Maryborough's Billy Mahony.

A first-year player at Maryborough, Mahony played all 18 games,

There were 10 nominees for netball's Rising Star award.

The other finalists were Sandhurst's Imogen Sexton and Meg Williams; Strathfieldsaye Storm's Zoe Davies; Gisborne's Sammi Cooke; Golden Square's Abbey and Ashley Ryan.

A key mid-court player for the Roos, Sartori will be on court for Sunday afternoon's A-grade second semi-final against Gisborne.

It was a dramatic finish to the counting of votes for the Alan McDonald medal for reserves football best and fairest.

Gisborne's Jason Duff-Tyler and Eaglehawk's Luke Rundell-Gordon were joint winners.

In the under-18s competition, Sandhurst's Tom Broadbent was the George Symons medallist.

The Holborn medal for A-reserve netball was won by Sandhurst's Erica Dalrymple-Monro.

Runner-up was Kangaroo Flat's Simone Butler.

Golden Square's Maddison Kelly was B-reserve best and fairest. Runner-up was Kangaroo Flat's Camille Johnstone.

The B-grade netball award was won by Izzy Paholek from Strathfieldsaye Storm.

Runners-up were Kangaroo Flat's Leah Cannon and Sandhurst's Stacey Rothacker.

Eaglehawk's Toni Burns earned the Carol Sing medal in the under-17s.

Joint runners-up were Gisborne's Rylee Connell and Kangaroo Flat's Milly Wicks.