Dean “Disco” Rysko caps solid Western Suburbs Magpies season with Ron Massey Cup player of the year honours

DEAN “Disco” Rysko did a little dance after winning the Ron Massey Cup player of the year award.

DEAN “Disco” Rysko did a little dance after winning the Ron Massey Cup player of the year award at the 2013 Brad Fittler Medal Night last month.

The Western Suburbs Magpies lock received the honour after an incredible season, which ended last week after Wests’ 32-24 preliminary final loss to rivals Wentworthville.

The Magpies finished the regular season in eighth place with nine wins and 13 losses in 22 games.

The powerful forward said he was “shocked” to have won the award.

“I was shocked at first because we finished eighth in the regular season and I was up against some really talented forwards, especially those from the Entrance Tigers and Wentworthville who have been dominant this year,” he said. “It’s definitely the best award I’ve ever won and a real honour.”

Rysko attributed the award to his solid defensive form. “My defence was pretty good this year and I tried to focus on error-free tackles, minimising the opposition offloads and slowing their play-the-ball,” he said.

‘Disco’ Rysko the smash hit

“I made more metres this year and was happy with a lot of my runs.

“Our halfback Nathan Waters really helped in ordering us around the field, too.”

Rysko said there were several high points in the season. “The highlight was making the preliminary final. I don’t think anyone expected us to do that,” he said.

“But the six-match winning streak towards the end was awesome and included our 104-4 thrashing of Kingsgrove Colts. We were in a real hot period but wish we had kept it.”

Rysko and Magpies teammates Sam Aiga, Sonny Bristow and Tom Morrison earned selection in the Ron Massey Cup representative team to play the Fiji Warriors at St Marys Stadium on Saturday, October 12.

“I was stoked with selection because I’ve missed out on a few of the rep sides
before and Fiji has a few NRL players.

“So it should be a great game,” Rysko said.