The NFNL Rosbrook Gannon Awards on Wednesday night showcased the NFNL stars who had fantastic individual seasons.
The vote counts were exciting, the winners were very deserving and the football and netball that was played over the course of the year was outstanding.
Frank Rosbrook Medal – Melbourne Greyhounds Division 1 Men’s Football
A close count and comeback rounded out the night of awards.
A tie for third place occurred between Brayden Sier (Heidelberg) and Nash Holmes (Montmorency), they both had strong starts to the season, with each of them being on eight votes after six rounds.
Finishing in second place was Blake Fitzgerald (Hurstbridge), he finished with 18 votes, and he only polled six times, they were all best on ground performances. The Bridges’ star led the count at every checkpoint, but the eventual winner came home strong, that man was Sam Gilmore (Heidelberg).
Going into Round 15 when the round-by-round count began, Gilmore was sitting on 11 votes, compared to Fitzgerald’s 18, he was sitting a fair way back. In Round 15 he picked up the one vote to put him on 12, Fitzgerald was on 18, Sier on 14 and Holmes on 13. Gilmore was given three votes in Round 16 to bring him up to 15, with neither of the other three polling.
In Round 17, Gilmore again picked up three, with neither of the other three polling, to put him level with Fitzgerald on 18, and leaving Sier and Holmes eliminated from the count. Fitzgerald did not play in Round 18, meaning Gilmore just needed to poll a vote, and he polled three once again. That meant he went nine out of a possible nine votes in the last three rounds of the season.
1st – Sam Gilmore (Heidelberg) – 21 votes
2nd – Blake Fitzgerald (Hurstbridge) – 18 votes
3rd – Brayden Sier (Heidelberg) and Nash Holmes (Montmorency) – 16 votes
Stacey Gannon Medal – Premier Division 1 Netball
The inaugural Stacey Gannon Medal was taken out by a veteran superstar of the NFNL, North Heidelberg’s Bec Colwell.
There was a tie for second place between Abbie Barnes (Whittlesea 1) and Madeline Ellis (Banyule 1). They both finished on 16 votes and had strong seasons. Ellis didn’t poll in the last three rounds, whereas Barnes had a solid finish to the season, going three, three and one in the last three rounds of the season to tie with Ellis.
In third place, and finishing only one vote behind on 15 was Kirra Parks (North Heidelberg 1). She finished best on court twice for the season.
Colwell, the Dogs’ star goal shooter, had already taken home the goal shooter award for Premier Division 1 and later in the night she was judged the best and fairest as well.
After the first five rounds of the season, she was a runaway leader with ten votes, and she didn’t really look like being caught throughout the count. She picked up another ten votes across the last six rounds of the season to take finish on 23 votes and take home the prized honour.
1st – Bec Colwell (North Heidelberg 1) – 23 votes
2nd – Abbie Barnes (Whittlesea 1) and Madeline Ellis (Banyule 1) – 16 votes
3rd – Kirra Parks (North Heidelberg 1) – 15 votes
Heidelberg Golf Club Division 1 Women’s
The Division 1 count also led to an exciting comeback victory in a low scoring count at the top end of the tally.
We were given a tie for third place between Abbey Vaughan (Eltham 1) and Brigid McEntee (St Mary’s 1). They both finished the season on 11 votes.
Finishing runners’ up was Isobel Villarreal (Eltham 1), she polled seven votes across the first six rounds.
After Round 10 the count was very tight, Villarreal joint lead with Hailey Cordova (Lower Plenty 1) and Tannah Hurst (Banyule) all on nine votes. Round 11 then made the count even tighter, the lead was a four-way tie now between Vaughan, McEntee, Cordova and Kira Lemire (Montmorency 1) on ten votes, followed by Villarreal and Hurst on nine votes.
In Round 12, Lemire picked up three votes, McEntee got the one vote, giving the magpie a two-vote lead over McEntee, followed by Vaughan and Cordova still on ten. In Round 13 Lemire again was best on ground sealing up the victory for her as McEntee, Vaughan and Cordova all didn’t poll. Lemire had a four-vote lead over Villarreal, who picked up three votes in Round 13.
Lemire was adjudged best on ground in Rounds 11, 12 and 13 to storm home and take the victory.
1st – Kira Lemire (Montmorency 1) – 16 votes
2nd – Isabel Villarreal (Eltham 1) – 12 votes
3rd – Abbey Vaughan (Eltham 1) and Brigid McEntee (St Mary’s 1) – 11 votes
MC Labour Division 2 Men’s
A dominant season from South Morang ruckman Nathan Stefanile gave him a runaway victory in the count in Division 2.
Ethan Penrith (Fitzroy Stars) finished the season in third place on 15 votes but was ineligible due to suspension, meaning Macleod’s Darcy Barden finished in third place of the eligible players with 14 votes.
There was a tie for second place between Dom Akuei (St Mary’s) and Bailey Robinson (Whittlesea). They both finished on 17 votes off the back of strong seasons. Akuei was holding outright second by two votes going into the last round, but Robinson was given two votes to Akuei’s zero in the last round of the season where the Eagles defeated the Burra.
Stefanile was the dominant force in the count, after Round 5 he was already out to ten votes and was looking good. Going into Round 15, Stefanile was on 19 and Akuei was on 14, so with four rounds left there was still some hope for Akeui. But back-to-back best on ground performances in Rounds 15 and 16 for Stefanile took him to 25 and Akuei wasn’t able to poll, so it was 25 to 14 with two rounds to go and Stefanile was deemed the winner.
1st – Nathan Stefanile (South Morang) – 25 votes
2nd – Dom Akuei (St Mary’s) and Bailey Robinson (St Mary’s) – 17 votes
3rd – Ethan Penrith* (Fitzroy Stars) – 15 votes / Darcy Barden (Macleod) – 14 votes
Cleaning Melbourne Division 2 Women’s Football
In one of the most dramatic counts of the night Isabel Young of West-Preston Lakeside stormed home to overtake Chiara Nardo of Kilmore by one vote in the last round of the season.
Amina Keegan of Fitzroy Stars finished the count in third on 15 votes, she had a fantastic season, being voted best on ground three times and finishing as the competition’s clear leading goal kicker. She had a good patch between Rounds 11-13, three, one, three in that sequence.
Nardo lead the tally for most of the middle to back end of the count, she polled 11 out of a possible 12 votes from Rounds 5-8. Going into the last four rounds of the season, when the count went match-by-match, Nardo was ahead of Young by seven votes and looked to have the medal in one hand.
The next four rounds was a comeback for the ages, in Round 11 Young polled two votes, with Nardo getting zero. In Round 12 they both were adjudged best on ground and given three votes, in the second last round, Young was given three votes to Nardo’s zero. Nardo had a two-vote lead going into the final round, and the results were just the same as the previous round, Nardo didn’t poll and Young was given three votes, giving her the victory, finishing on 21 votes to Nardo’s 20.
Young finished the season with a perfect nine votes in her final three games.
1st – Isabel Young (West Preston Lakeside) – 21 votes
2nd – Chiara Nardo (Kilmore) – 20 votes
3rd – Amina Keegan (Fitzroy Stars) – 15 votes
Premier Division 2 Netball
A barnstorming finish saw an exciting count in Premier Division 2.
Rebekah Konstantopoulos (Hume 1) finished the count in third with 16 votes. She was deemed best on court four times this season, including polling eight votes in a four game stretch between Rounds 5-8.
In second place was Holly Denholm (Montmorency 1). She polled votes in eight of the first 13 rounds of the season, including four three-vote performances, she wasn’t able to pick up any more votes in the last three rounds of the season. She ended the season with 18 votes.
Nikki Clover (North Heidelberg 3) was the eventual victor and came from the clouds to take home the award. After Round 12 and with four rounds to go, Clover was on nine votes, compared to both Denholm and Konstantopoulos who were on 16 votes.
In Round 13, Clover polled three votes and Denholm polled two, Denholm still ahead by six votes. In Round 14 Clover picked up two votes, and in Round 15 she grabbed three more, so come the last round Denholm was ahead by just the one vote. Then, another three vote performance from Clover gave her the two vote victory.
1st – Nikki Clover (North Heidelberg 3) – 20 votes
2nd – Holly Denholm (Montmorency 1) – 18 votes
3rd – Rebekah Konstantopoulos (Hume 1) – 16 votes
Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 Men’s Football
A tight count in the Division 3 Men’s, but Ivanhoe’s Riley Loton did enough early to hold on for victory. Laurimar’s Jesse Donaldson finished in third place with 13 votes, and he polled 11 of his 13 votes in the first seven rounds of the season before missing a large period with injury. Billy Morrison (Mernda) also finished on 13 votes but was ineligible due to suspension.
There was a three-way tie for second place between Patrick Fitzgerald (Laurimar), Brent Marshall (Mernda) and Luke Wilson (Laurimar), all finishing on 14 votes.
But the star of the season in Division 3 was Loton – he had already taken out the Coaches MVP and now was adjudged best and fairest. He came absolutely charging out of the blocks to start the season, polling 15 votes between Rounds 2-7 out of a possible 18 in that period.
He had pretty much done enough from then to hold on to the count; he picked up his next single vote in Round 14 and was on 16 with chasers behind him still within three votes going into the last round. But Laurimar had the bye so the only one that could catch him was Marshall, but he didn’t poll and Loton picked up another two votes in the last round to make a certainty of the result.
1st – Riley Loton (Ivanhoe) – 18 votes
2nd – Patrick Fitzgerald (Laurimar), Brent Marshall (Mernda) and Luke Wilson (Laurimar) – 14 votes
3rd – Jesse Donaldson (Laurimar) – 13 votes
Division 3 Women’s Football
Sarah Campbell of Laurimar took out third place in the count, she finished on 17 votes, polling all 17 votes in the last seven rounds of the season, meaning in those games she polled 17 out of a possible 21 votes.
Finishing in second was Bentley Butler of Diamond Creek Women’s 2. She finished the count on 19 votes, having consistent year and always being thereabouts at the top of the tally.
The winner was Epping’s Nancy Cakau, she had a fantastic season, finishing on 21 votes. She was adjudged the best on ground in six matches this season. Cakau was ahead by three votes going into the last round, she didn’t poll, but Butler only polled the one vote meaning Cakau held on for the two vote victory.
1st – Nancy Cakau (Epping) – 21 votes
2nd – Bentley Butler (Diamond Creek Women’s 2) – 19 votes
3rd – Sarah Campbell (Laurimar) – 17 votes
Premier Division 3 Netball
Two stars stormed away from the pack and held control of the count by the middle of the season.
Finishing in third place was Jessie Bracken (North Heidelberg 4), she was adjudged best on court three times throughout the season. But the tussle for top spot was between Elly Castles (South Morang 1) and Ruby Somerville (Thomastown 1). Castles was best on court six times throughout the season in comparison to Somerville’s four.
After Round 13, Castles was leading Somerville by one vote, 17 to 16. In Round 14, a huge three votes came Castles’ way, and with Somerville not polling, Castles held a four vote lead with two rounds to go.
In Round 15, Castles picked up a single vote, and Somerville was able to grab two votes, to bring the tally to 21 for Castles and 18 for Somerville, meaning Castles couldn’t lose but Somerville could still tie.
In the last round Castles didn’t poll, but Somerville was only able to poll two votes, meaning Castles held on to win outright by one vote.
1st – Elly Castles (South Morang 1) – 21 votes
2nd – Ruby Somerville (Thomastown 1) – 20 votes
3rd – Jessie Bracken (North Heidelberg 4) – 13 votes
Full final vote tallies for football and netball competitions will be made available next week.
