Eastern league: Kyle Martin makes it 11 best and fairests in 12 years of football
The Noble Park champion and former Magpie last night topped the club vote count for the fifth year on the bounce and the seventh time overall, prompting a former teammate to declare him “the best local footballer in the country”.
Eastern
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When Noble Park officials decided to name the club best and fairest the Peter Reece Medal, they gave no thought to anyone ever getting near his record.
Reece was a big man who covered the ground like a rover, and he was a champion of local football.
He topped Noble’s vote count in 1992, ’94, ’95, ’96, ‘97, ’98 and 2000, and was equal with Craig Stewart in 1993.
Count them: that’s eight best and fairests at a time when the club was strong and winning premierships.
Last night Kyle Martin claimed his seventh Noble Park best and fairest and his fifth on the reel, defeating Jackson Sketcher.
The former Collingwood player’s victory also meant he has now won the best and fairest in 11 of his past 12 seasons.
Grant Connolly was president when the club struck the Peter Reece Medal.
He’s president of the Bulls again, and with a laugh he suggested that at some point Noble might have to rename the award the Reece-Martin Medal.
Connolly has seen a lot of champions at the club and, although he says it’s difficult to compare eras, he puts Bulls captain Martin “right up there, no doubt’’.
“Is he the best? Hard to say. His record stacks up, obviously,’’ he said.
“I always answer it by going through the different eras. Kyle’s the best I’ve seen in this decade. The 2000s, Peter O’Brien is pretty hard to go past. What about Craig Anderson? ‘Knighter’ (Denis Knight), ‘Nuttsy’ (Daniel Donati), even (Ben) Logan.
“The 1990s, you’ve obviously got Peter Reece.
“They’re all different players, different eras.
“Who knows, Kyle might end up even going past ‘Reecey’, which would be amazing because when we made the decision in the early 2000s to name the medal, he (Reece) was a standout.’’
Martin’s run of best and fairests began at Haileybury College in 2008. The following year he took Noble Park’s senior award.
In 2010 he missed a lot of football with an arm injury.
Since then he’s won the best and fairest every year he played — at Noble in 2011, Frankston Dolphins in 2012, Collingwood VFL in 2013-14, and Noble Park in 2015, ’16, ’17, ’18 and ’19.
The Pies drafted him from Frankston as a rookie and he played six AFL games. Then, to the disappointment of Collingwood and the surprise of many people in football, he walked away from the AFL, happier to play at Noble and work as a plumber.
Martin’s mate and former Noble Park teammate Georgie Angelopoulos reacted to last night’s win by tweeting: “He’s the best local footballer in the country and it’s not even close #GOAT’’
Aside from Martin’s best and fairest, the other highlight of Noble Park’s presentation was life membership to outgoing senior coach “Mighty Mick’’ Fogarty.
After stints with the St Kilda and Sydney Swans Under 19s and reserves, Fogarty joined Noble Park in 1987 and played there for five years, winning a best and fairest and having a hand in two premierships.
He went on to Springvale in the VFA.
Fogarty returned to Noble Park in 2010 and, for all but 2014, when he took a year off, coached through to this year.
There were flags in 2010-11 and a grand final appearance in 2013.
All told Fogarty coached the Bulls for 177 games, collecting 112 wins and 65 losses.
“Your contribution as a player and coach has been outstanding,’’ Connolly said at last night’s presentation.
“In our 100-year history, you are our longest serving coach and too achieve dual premierships as a player and then as a coach is something you should be proud of.’’