Dandenong Stingrays Alex Benbow has won the 2011 TAC Cup Morrish Medal.
In an exciting finish to the Under 18 competitions best and fairest awards night held at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Benbow hit the front in round 13 and was able to hold on in the final four rounds to finish on 22 votes, one vote ahead of Sandringham’s Alex Woodward and Gippsland Powers Danny Butcher. Woodward led the early rounds of the count, and three of the maximum four votes in the final round saw him finish as joint runner up.
The win for the Dual Stingrays Captain caps off a great home and away season for Alex, who was the leading possession getter this year for Dandenong Stingrays, and also led the club in contested possessions as well.
An amazing feat within Benbow’s polling he actually polled votes in 14 out of 17 rounds. Alex played in 15 out of the 17 possible games, out of the three games he didn’t poll he played 2 games with Vic Country in the NAB AFL Under 18 National Championships. Apart from his Morrish Medal honour, Benbow was also one of two Stingrays selected in the TAC Cup Team of the Year, named at half forward along with dual Captain and the highly rated first round draft choice Matthew Buntine in the back pocket.
Dandenong Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats top the night off after he was named Coach of the Year after a fantastic finish to the season saw Dandenong rise up the ladder to fourth spot.
The Dandenong Stingrays have made it through to the TAC Cup Preliminary final to be played next Saturday at Visy Park at 1.45pm against the highly fancied Oakleigh Chargers, who like the Stingrays finished the home and away season strongly.
Last Modified on 12/09/2011 14:56