A fantastic evening was had at the Caulfield Racecourse for the 2012 presentation night.
Sam Pickett was named senior Best & Fairest winner. Sam is currently travelling through the USA and other more ‘exotic’ parts of the world with Ben Humphrey (with some other team mates set to join at various other destinations) so the award was accepted by Sam’s dad Mark who gave a special thanks to all of Sam’s team mates. Jacob Gotch, who is always thereabouts in B & F counting, was runner up. The Reserves was a very tight affair with Dan Close just tipping out Tyson Parker and James Hansen. Shane Griffin was a run away winner of the Thirds B & F from Sam Morwood. Adam Kovarik won the Club XVIII award with Chris Coyle and Brad Hughes in a tie for second. In a very close 19 Blues count the consistent Joel Mattiske edged out Harry Haley by 1 vote. Both boys had super seasons with Harry also getting a taste of senior football during the season. In another tight count Matt Hogan and Matt Harvey tied for the 19 Golds Best and Fairest with Dom Spicer and Tim Shallue also in a tie for runner up. The Superules Best and Fairest was won by Robert Walker who still looks fit enough to suit up for the seniors. No surprise that ‘back in the day’ he played football at the highest level for Richmond.
In other awards Justin Baxter was named Senior Outstanding Achievement Award winner. Justin’s battles last season were well documented. A horrendous injury in round 4 not only nearly ended his football career but also resulted in Justin becoming gravely ill. Justin came back this season year to finish equal third in the Best and Fairest, represent the VAFA against AFL Sydney and be named in the VAFA Premier ‘A’ Section team of the year. Under 19 Blues premiership captain Sam Brooks who also played some exceptional games at senior level this season won the Junior Outstanding Achievement Award. The inaugural Ron Wilson Senior Encouragement Award in honour of our longest serving and most loyal supporter was won by Tyson Hunt. Tyson has overcome two years of constant injury to finish the season playing outstanding football. Club stalwart and tireless worker Marty Kelliher was awarded the Best Club Person Award with Wayne McDonnell presented with the Presidents Trophy. Wayne’s contribution around the club this year was amazing.
While reflecting on the disappointing end to the season at preliminary final stage for the seniors coach Greg McLoughlin pointed out that overall the club enjoyed an outstanding season with two premierships and that the future looks very bright. Greg also made special mention of two retiring club champions in Aaron Shields and Jarrod Moloney. While the club will no doubt do everything to coax them out of retirement in the off-season it seems that this time the boys really mean it. They will be very hard to replace and we thank them both for their fantastic contribution to the club over many years.
Well done to the organisers in putting together a terrific event at a great venue.
A full list of award winners can be found here.
2012 PRESENTATION NIGHT AWARDS
Last Modified on 07/10/2013 19:25