Calivil United’s Chris Down and Bridgewater’s Jessey Wilson are the premier footballer and netballer in the LVFNL for 2018.
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After finishing third behind team-mate Ben Knight in last year’s Harding Medal, Down went two places better on Monday night when he dominated the vote count.
Down polled 28 votes to finish seven clear of Mitiamo midfielder Terry Reeves and 12 in front of Newbridge’s Nathan Bacon.
The Calivil United ruckman polled six votes in the first four rounds to grab the lead, briefly lost that lead to Pyramid Hill’s Billy Micevski in round five before back-to-back best on grounds in rounds six and seven restored Down’s lead.
Down stamped his authority on the count when he polled 10 votes between rounds nine and 13 and when he earned two votes in Calivil’s one-point loss to Pyramid Hill in round 16 the Harding Medal was his.
Reeves polled five best on grounds in his 21 votes, while 11 of Bacon’s 16 votes came in the final four rounds.
Bacon’s Newbridge team-mate Tommy Horne was fourth on 15 votes, one vote clear of Maiden Gully YCW duo Nat McLaren and Nick Waterson.
The Helen Ward Medal in A-grade netball was a much closer affair.
Jessey Wilson and Newbridge’s Sharlene Hannig broke clear of the pack and were tied on 17 votes with four rounds remaining.
Neither played polled in rounds 15 and 16 before Wilson grabbed the lead on her own when she was awarded two votes in the round 17 win over Bears Lagoon-Serpentine. Wilson added another vote in the final round against Marong meaning Hannig needed three votes in the Maroons’ win over MGYCW to tie.
She didn’t poll a vote and Wilson was crowned the winner. Wilson became the second Bridgewater player to win the medal in as many years after Stacey Rothacker tied with Newbridge’s Megan Jennings in 2017.
Calivil United’s Christie Rogers came home with a rush to tie for third on 16 votes with MGYCW’s Renee Sheridan.
Helen Ward Medal leaderboard:
20 – Jessey Wilson (Bridgewater), 17 – Sharlene Hannig (Newbridge), 16 – Christie Rogers (Calivil United), 15 – Kim Dalton (Marong), 15 – Lucy Morcom (Mitiamo), 13 – Julia Twigg (Mitiamo), 12 – Leisa Barry (MGYCW), 11 – Lauren Miller (Calivil United), 11 – Rachel Pettifer (Newbridge), 11 – Teigan Redwood (Calivil United), 10 – Meg Allen (Bridgewater), 10 – Georgia Anderson (Mitiamo).
Frank Harding Medal leaderboard:
28 – Chris Down (Calivil United), 21 – Terry Reeves (Mitiamo), 16 – Nathan Bacon (Newbridge), 15 – Tommy Horne (Newbridge), 14 – Nat McLaren (MGYCW), 14 – Nick Waterson (MGYCW), 13 – Billy Micevski (Pyramid Hill), 13 – Alex Powell (Bridgewater), 12 – Nathan McNally (BL-Serpentine), 11 – Gavin James (Pyramid Hill), 11 – Tyler Romeril (Newbridge), 10 – Harry Gadsden (BL-Serpentine), 10 – Jordan Gilboy (Newbridge), 10 – Nathan Twigg (BL-Serpentine), 10 – Jarryd Wiegard (Mitiamo).
Meanwhile, Bridgewater Football Netball Club dominated the lower grades in Monday night’s LVFNL vote count.
It was a particularly successful night for the Childs family, with Danny and Kym taking home medals for the Mean Machine.
Danny Childs polled 17 votes to win a thrilling John Forbes Medal in reserves football from Newbridge’s Chris Belz and Bears Lagoon-Serpentine’s Jared Bennett on 15.
Danny Childs polled eight votes in the final three games to reel in Bennett.
Kym Childs won the Joy Lawry Medal in B-grade netball for the second-straight season by two votes from Pyramid Hill’s Megan Gunther.
The duo were tied on 18 votes after 13 rounds and it took until the final game of the season for Childs to break the deadlock when she polled two votes. Inglewood’s Grace Christiansen finished third on 17 votes.
Bridgewater young gun Tom McKinley took the honours in the under-18 football Stephen Dowling Award.
McKinley polled 23 votes to edge out Marong’s Lachlan Lee by one vote.
Inglewood ruckman Nick Leach was a further four votes back in third place.
Bridgewater’s Ashlee Bowen won the 17-and-under netball award.
Bowen earned 25 votes to be three ahead of Inglewood’s Shayna Macartney, with Calivil United’s Rylee Gallagher third on 20 votes.
Maiden Gully YCW Eagles collected two netball awards.
In the C-grade count, Kaitlin Waterson polled votes in 10 games on her way to 24 votes ad a three-vote win over Inglewood’s Tayla Simpson. Mitiamo’s Crystal West was third on 20 votes.
MGYCW’s Abbey Conway polled 29 votes to win the C-reserve vote count. Conway polled three votes in the final round to defeat Inglewood’s Brooke Engi on 26, while Serpentine’s Gabrielle Gadsden was third on 22.
Pyramid Hill’s Imogen Broad polled in 12 games, including eight best on court gongs, on her way to 30 votes and the under-15 award. She finished two votes ahead of MGYCW’s Ellie Donnellon.