Words: Blake Birt

The PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland premiership race may have been decided in Round 21 but plenty of intrigue surrounds the final week of the season, with Golden Boot honours coming down to the wire.

The Golden Boot is awarded to the player that scores the most goals throughout the PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland home-and-away season.

Rhys Meredith of Brisbane Strikers and Gold Coast City’s Ben Litfin currently share the lead with 17 goals apiece, but Jamie Carroll of FNQ Heat is within touching distance with 15 goals to his name.

The trio's clubs will be in action on Saturday, with Heat hosting SWQ Thunder, City travelling to Sunshine Coast FC and Strikers hosting local rivals Brisbane City.

Meredith bagged four against Northern Fury last weekend to seal the Premiership title for Strikers and attributes his success to a positive dressing room atmosphere.

“It’s been one of my most enjoyable years, I’m a bit surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed the whole team. We’ve all gelled, we’re all mates and I think that’s a big part of the success.”

While the striker’s haul against Fury propelled him into a share of the goalscoring lead, Meredith won’t be losing any sleep if he is overtaken this weekend.

“I’m happy either way, it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get it and we’ve had a brilliant year. Winning things as a team is more important than personal stuff.”

Level with Meredith is City young gun Litfin, who has more than vindicated coach Grae Piddick’s decision to move him forward from his regular position in defensive midfield.

“We’ve got some really good holding midfielders and Grae wanted me to push further upfield. I started banging a few in and just kept going.”

Litfin has emerged as his team’s most dangerous threat but the newly-minted forward entered the campaign unsure of what to expect from his new role.

“I didn’t come into the season as a goalscorer so I didn’t discuss any targets but if you’re playing that position you should be up towards 10, so I’m really happy with we’re I’m at.”

Another player benefiting from a position change is Heat skipper Carroll, who has led the line admirably in 2016 after several seasons limited to running up and down the sideline.

“From 2013 to 2015 they put me on the wing and then the gaffer came in this year, put me up top and I seem to be scoring goals again.”

Despite being amongst the league’s most prolific forwards all season, Carroll insists he hasn’t kept a close eye on the leading goalscorers chart.

“It’s more the boys that have been keeping me up to date on my tally, I haven’t gone out of my way to look it up at all.”

While Carroll remains nonchalant about the potential for individual honours, City’s Litfin isn’t hiding his ambition of being crowned Queensland’s best goalscorer.

“Look, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it now that it’s so close,” Litfin stated.

Previous winners of the Golden Boot were Brisbane City's Antonio Murray (2013), Moreton Bay United's Royce Brownlie (2014) and Redlands United's Graham Fyfe (2015).

PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues - Round 22

Sunshine Coast FC v Gold Coast City FC
Saturday, August 20 | 2:00PM
Sunshine Coast Stadium, Sunshine Coast

Brisbane Strikers FC v Brisbane City FC
Saturday, August 20 | 6:00PM
Perry Park, Brisbane

FNQ FC Heat v SWQ Thunder FC
Saturday, August 20 | 6:30PM
Barlow Park, Cairns