Matt Hilton and Shaun Robinson share Gold Coast Premier League’s Player of the Year award

TWO of the Gold Coast Premier League’s biggest names have shared the Tony Cecco Medal as Player of the Year at Football Gold Coast’s presentation night.

TWO of the Gold Coast Premier League’s biggest names have shared the Tony Cecco Medal as Player of the Year at Football Gold Coast’s annual presentation night.

Burleigh striker Matt Hilton and Broadbeach midfielder Shaun Robinson (both 19 points) were named joint winners of the award after helping their sides reach the semi final and grand final respectively.

Max Brown, (Gold Coast Knights, 16pts), Eric Leonard (Nerang, 15pts) and Bruno Rodriguez (Surfers Paradise, 13pts) rounded out the top five.

Hilton finished with 27 goals to also claim the Golden Boot, with Robinson (15 goals) finishing equal-second with Dolphins teammate Luke Marsh.

Broadbeach’s Megan Kehoe won the Women’s Premier League Player of the Year prize.

The full list of award winners is below.

TONY CECCO MEDAL TOP FIVE

Name: Matt Hilton

Tony Cecco Medal Finish: 1st (tied)

MVP Points: 19

Club: Burleigh Heads

Position: striker

The Premier League veteran was simply unstoppable this season, bagging 27 goals for one-time ladder leaders Burleigh to finish 12 clear of Broadbeach duo Luke Marsh and Shaun Robinson.

KNIGHTS CONFIDENT OF IMMEDIATE NPL IMPACT

Burleigh’s Matt Hilton.

Name: Shaun Robinson

Tony Cecco Medal Finish: 1st (tied)

MVP Points: 19

Club: Broadbeach United

Position: midfielder

The hero of Broadbeach’s 2017 grand final triumph made a successful transition from the forward line to the engine room this season, finishing with 15 goals as the Dolphins reached yet another title decider.

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Broadbeach’s Shaun Robinson. Picture: Mike Batterham

Name: Max Brown

Tony Cecco Medal Finish: 2nd

MVP Points: 16

Club: Gold Coast Knights

Position: midfielder

Brown was the driving force behind the Knights’ charge to the Premier League title double, underlined by his man-of-the-match performance in their 5-1 victory over Broadbeach in the grand final.

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Gold Coast Knights’ Max Brown. Picture: Jerad Williams

Name: Eric Leonard

Tony Cecco Medal Finish: 4th

MVP Points: 15

Club: Nerang

Position: midfielder

Having arrived in Australia in April to chase a professional contract, the US native proved an instant success in the Premier League as the Eagles surprised many to finish fifth on the ladder.

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Nerang’s Eric Leonard (right).

Name: Bruno Rodriguez

Tony Cecco Medal Finish: 5th

MVP Points: 13

Club: Surfers Paradise

Position: midfielder

While Apollo’s Premier League campaign never hit any great heights despite reaching the preliminary final, their skipper was a model of consistency and was among his team’s best players every week.

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Surfers Paradise’s Bruno Rodriguez (right). Picture: Glenn Hampson

MEN’S TEAM OF THE YEAR

Joshua Langdon/Griffin Bambach

Connor Simpson

Oskar Dillon

Lee Jungje

Daniel Dragicevic

Adam Powell

Attilio Assante

Max Brown

Shaun Robinson

Matt Hilton

Luke Marsh.

Subs: Yuji Kin, Bruno Rodriguez, Eric Leonard, Jack Boxell, Justin Watmough.

Coach: Colin Phelan

Broadbeach’s Connor Simpson made the Team of the Year. Picture: Jerad Williams

FULL LIST OF AWARD WINNERS

Tony Cecco Medal Men’s PL (MVP) - Matt Hilton (Burleigh) and Shaun Robinson (Broadbeach)

Kate Gleeson Women’s PL (MVP) - Megan Kehoe (Broadbeach)

Club Championship - Gold Coast Knights

Golden Boot

PL - Matt Hilton (27, Burleigh)

WPL - Megan Kehoe (10, Broadbeach)

CL - Fikret Mehic (25, Musgrave)

CL Women’s - Monntana Bailey (10, Southport)

PL Reserves - Bradley Richardson (17, Palm Beach)

CL Reserves - Joseph Lamb (21, Broadbeach)

Midweek Metro Div 1 - Joseph Allocca (21, Bond Uni)

Midweek Metro North - Wesley Tronson (35, Kingscliff)

Midweek Metro South - Cameron Bullard (Bilambil)

Women’s Metro North - Kelsie Redman (Coomera)

Women’s Metro South - Monique Allsopp (41, Kingscliff)

Weekend Metro - Keegan Staff (16, Tweed United)

Coaches Player of the Year

PL - Matt Hilton (Burleigh)

WPL - Kate Webb (Southport)

CL - Koji Kato (Musgrave)

Women’s CL - Lauren Blair (Palm Beach)

PL Reserves - Travis Taylor (Surfers)

CL Reserves - Caleb Furnell (Southport)

Midweek Metro Div 1 - Alex Horne (Tallebudgera)

Midweek Metro North - Scott Pickering (Coomera)

Midweek Metro South - Cameron Bullard (Bilambil)

Women’s Metro North - Kelsie Redman (Coomera)

Women’s Metro South - Kim Woodcock (Mudgeeraba)

Weekend Metro - Jesse Keegan (Robina)

Coach of the Year

PL - Colin Phelan (Burleigh)

WPL - Sarah Evans (Broadbeach)

CL - Matt Lynch (Broadbeach)

Women’s CL - Jason Mancell (Southport)

PL Reserves - Dave Freemantle (Surfers)

CL Reserves - Rob Semple (Broadbeach)

Midweek Metro Div 1 - Kirk Brebner (Surfers)

Midweek Metro North - Ross Wallace (Robina)

Midweek Metro South - Christopher Gallagher (Bilambil)

Women’s Metro North - David Lowth (Coomera)

Women’s Metro South - Mark Griffiths (Tweed)

Weekend Metro - Mark Hallam (Ormeau)

Community Awards

Jodie Dickens (Gold Coast Knights)

Telly Karadimos (Surfers Paradise)

25 Year Service

Lee Vernon (Broadbeach)