Phelan Medal wrap-up
As it always is, the Phelan Medal was the great event it promised to be. In front of 620 people- a record attendance- it was particularly great to see the number of clubs represented among the award winners.
Nine different clubs had Best and Fairest medal winners, with Sydney University men’s club the only multiple club with two winners of medals.
It was good to see two great football people that Danny has crossed paths with his journeys across Sydney in Greg Corless (Volunteer of the Year) and Ian Wright (Life Member) recognised. They are the heartbeat of their respective clubs and their awards are only small accolades for the hours...days..months..years they have put into the game. Also attending the Phelan Medal was Pennant Hills’ stalwart, Gus McKernan who, correct me if wrong, was attending his 38th consecutive Phelan Medal gala ceremony.
Ruckmen also got a good run this year with the flying Frenchman, Pete Le Breton (Division One), Ryan Kennedy (Division Two) and Will Stratford (Under 19 Division One) claiming the top gong in their grades. Who said ruckmen had no skill?!
The main winner of the night though was Alex Goodall. He claimed the Phelan Medal, the Representative Player of the Year and was named in the Team of the Year. He proved quite the crowd favourite on the night and afterwards as well if Facebook is anything to go by- 80+ likes and 7,000 people reached with the link to our AFL Sydney article on Tuesday morning.
Alex has even commemorated his win with the photos on the left which he has hung on his wall at home.
Quite the week for Armitage
It is always a big week for players leading into a Grand Final but this week Manly-Warringah ace, Tyrone Armitage has had to be on his game.
Armitage was a late inclusion for the AFL Victoria Young Guns match which was a curtain-raiser for the VFL Preliminary Final. AFL listed players Sam Dunnell, Paul Seedsman and Andrew Collins all played in this clash in recent years, as did rookie-listed James Toohey last year. The match also featured Hawthorn pair, Ryan Schoenmakers and Matt Suckling. Needless to say, there was a host of AFL recruiting staff present. You can read more here
It all culminates on Saturday where he will lead the Manly-Warringah side in their Grand Final rematch against Pennant Hills.
“The Recruit” slays the Demons, twice!
Speaking of The Recruit, it has come to Danny’s attention of an interesting occurrence on Semi Final weekend. Sydney clubs provided two of the participants in the popular Foxtel reality program “The Recruit”. Reigning Phelan Medallist, Tyrone Armitage from Manly, and Division One player, James Brackin from Macquarie University, flew the flag for Sydney in the show.
Pennant Hills lost the Second Semi-Final to Manly last week in Premier Division by three points, 3-15-33 to 4-6-30, and guess who kicked the last goal of the game to give his team victory? Yes, it was Armitage.
But, even more incredibly, Pennant Hills met Macquarie University the next day in the Division One First Semi-Final only to suffer another narrow loss, this time by two points, 10-10-70 to 9-14-68. To cap off an amazing series of coincidences, Brackin kicked the final goal of the match, his fourth, to seal the victory!
AFL Sydney goal and mark of the year
One of the hottest debates in the AFL Sydney office was what should be adjudged as the Goal of the Year. Danny is still livid after being out-voted; mind you Lachie Kilpatrick’s goal was a cracker! You can see them all here at http://youtu.be/GPyJrecajb4
If you also want to see Kelvin Barnes’ ripper mark from Round 1, you can check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VILio3PvmI&list=UUMG_B7bc2wr6nn_G-f1rozg
Coaching merry-go-round begins
While it is nothing new, we hear at least 2 Premier Division clubs are chasing new senior coaches, with one being a familiar name but hasn’t picked up the coaching board for a few years.
Lost goods
Danny hears a club has lost a Premiership trophy after last weekend’s celebrations. A replacement order has been requested by the club with AFL Sydney.
AFL Sydney spreads its wings
Modern technology is a great thing with the Digital Sports coverage of Grand Finals getting viewed all around the world. We saw a number of tweets coming in with people watching the telecast from Nepal, Lyon in France, Wellington in NZ, Memphis in the US and even Narrabri in country NSW.
Spotted
UTS high-flyer Michael “The Whiz” May on his couch referring to himself as the Nat Fyfe of AFL Sydney as he was ineligible for the Phelan Medal. To his disbelief, he only polled 2 votes.
Manly-Warringah’s Hayden Washington with shirt off sunbaking on the far wing on Saturday morning at BISP while his club’s Under 19’s were playing in their Preliminary Final. He has since received no modelling contracts offers nor a late nomination for Cleo Bachelor of the Year.
Last Modified on 18/09/2014 17:56
