THE ability to showcase his versatility in a variety of roles has helped Noah Wheeler add his name to the list of Rural Bank Bendigo Pioneer club champions.

Wheeler won the Pioneers’ Neville Strauch Medal as 2018 best and fairest at the TAC Cup club’s presentation night last weekend.

Wheeler was a vice-captain of the Pioneers team this year and played 16 of the club’s 17 games.

“He had a really solid season and won the best and fairest fairly easily,” Pioneers coach Rick Coburn said on Wednesday.

“He just about did it all for us… he played the majority of the season in the midfield as a strong, contested player and won a lot of possessions.

“He also spent a fair bit of time up forward and was able to hit the scoreboard and then towards the end of the season went back and showed he was a class act coming out of defensive 50.

“He also went back and played with Echuca during some of the development rounds and always figured in their best players at senior level and overall just had a really solid season.”

Wheeler, 18, has been a part of the Pioneers program since under-16s.

Bailey Henderson, who played as a 19-year-old, finished runner-up in the best and fairest.

“Bailey played three quarters of the year with us and a quarter with Strathfieldsaye. He had some injuries throughout, but finished the season really strongly for us playing centre half-back,” Coburn said.

Ruckman Daniel Keating, who also played as a 19-year-old, had been a convincing leader early in the count before his season ended after nine games with a knee injury.

Meanwhile, the winner of the Pioneers’ girls best and fairest was midfielder Megan Williamson.

“Megan had a terriffic year for us. She was ultra-consistent and has really improved over the past two seasons,” Pioneers girls coach Shawn McCormick said.

“She has a really strong ability to find the footy and went on to play in the top division with Williamstown in the VFLW and acquitted herself very well following the year she had with us.”

From Woorinen, Williamson captained the Pioneers this year.

“I’m very thankful for the friendship I have with my Bendigo Pioneers coach Shawn McCormick. He wouldn’t beat around the bush to tell me exactly what he expected from me and the extra running block I always needed to do, along with his connections that led me to Williamstown,” Williamson told the Seagulls’ website during the year.

Williamson won the best and fairest by 10 votes from Kodi Jacques.

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