West Preston-Lakeside sweeps top awards at NFNL Rosbrook Medal night
It was a dramatic finish to the NFNL Rosbrook Medal count with the leading vote-getter suspended and West Preston-Lakeside sweeping the top awards.
Northern
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West Preston-Lakeside’s Matt Harman and Ashleigh Snow are the new king and queen of the Northern Football League.
The Roosters pair were on Wednesday night crowned the best-and-fairest players at a gala event at Marvel Stadium.
Harman was a “shocked” winner of the Rosbrook Medal, polling 19 votes to claim the competition’s highest individual honour with leading vote-winner, Montmorency’s Liam Wale-Buxton, ineligible.
“It’s a real honour, definitely a bit of a shock,” he said.
“That’s pretty much what I thought (I’d just have a good night), I didn’t expect anything at all.
“I’ve got Maxy Dreher here as my date, so this is definitely a shock, my partner had a work function so I thought I’d bring Maxy along.”
He finished four votes in front of a trio of Tigers; 2021 medallist Lachlan Wilson, Josh Minogue and ruck rival Sam Gilmore.
Harman earned best-on-ground honours in six matches, with a three-vote performance in the Round 16 win over Macleod clinching the medal.
The star big man becomes West Preston-Lakeside’s first Rosbrook Medallist since fellow ruck Nick Meese in 2010.
With the calibre of rucks in Division 1, Harman said it was “a joy” to turn up every Saturday.
“It’s a real great comp to play in, it’s an honour to be a part of a competition with so many fantastic players and ruckmen throughout, I hope one day I can match it with them,” he said.
“It’s actually a real joy to play footy because I know every week I’m not coming in to be some big, dopey ruckman.
“I’ve got a challenge every week, Sammy Gilmore is fantastic, (Liam) Buxton is a massive unit and (Hamish) Shepheard’s got AFL experience.
“It’s something I really enjoy, coming up against every week and having that one-on-one battle.”
Harman rated Gilmore as the most enjoyable to play against.
“I really like playing against Sammy because he’s a fantastic person and almost a mentor on the field,” he said.
“His combination of athleticism, strength and footy smarts makes him fun to play against.
“Then you get someone like Buxton, he’d have 30kg on me, he’s enormous, Hamish Shepheard has a lot of experience and Patty Flynn’s won a lot of medals and now we’ve got Majak (Daw) to worry about.”
In his first season in the NFNL, Wale-Buxton would have been a commanding winner if not for a Round 18 brain snap.
The Magpies big man polled 25 votes but was ineligible after copping a four-week suspension – reduced to two on appeal – for a crude off-the-ball hit against West Preston-Lakeside.
The mistake proved costly, missing the narrow qualifying final defeat to Bundoora and semi-final win over West Preston-Lakeside before returning for the preliminary final loss to the Bulls.
Harman said his club was jealous watching Heidelberg and Bundoora prepare for a grand final this week and were determined to return to the top in 2023.
Meanwhile, Roosters’ clubmate Snow claimed the Division 1 women’s best-and-fairest and Coaches MVP double.
The tenacious midfielder polled 24 votes to win the league medal, comfortably ahead of Montmorency’s Chiara Scuderi and Diamond Creek Women’s Chiara Nardo.
Snow is the first West Preston-Lakeside player to top the Division 1 women’s voting, starting the season on fire with eight of 12 votes in grading before finishing strongly, earning two votes in each of the final two matches.
After having a year off, following her time at Northern Knights, Snow returned with a bang and is now considering a step up to VFLW in 2023.
“It’s such an honour, I’m so happy about the whole season,” she said.
“We went from wooden spooners last year to having two teams and getting into finals in the firsts.
“I had a year off but I’ve loved coming back to local, West Preston is my home club – my dad played there – so I’m so happy to be back there.
“I’ve been looking at a couple of VFL clubs but West is always in my heart.
“I’ll be going back there for pre-season and I’ll just see what happens next.”
Snow won the Coaches MVP with 85 votes, ahead of Diamond Creek Women’s Georgia Tait and Heidelberg’s Emily de Sando.
Heidelberg’s Matt Smith won his second consecutive Division 1 Coaches’ MVP award, tying with Jesse Tardio of North Heidelberg.
Meanwhile in Division 2, Lower Plenty star Darcy Barden took home the medal, 11 years after his first triumph in 2011, beating Banyule rival Jack Langford by two votes and Panton Hill onballer Sam Parks a further vote back.
St Mary’s Jess Hardy won the women’s best-and-fairest and Coaches’ MVP double.
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Banyule premiership gun Riley Loton was voted the Coaches’ MVP.
And in Division 3, Kilmore ace Chris Ryall went back-to-back in the best-and-fairest, pipping Laurimar’s Luke Wilson by two votes with the ineligible Aaron Lazaric in third and took home the Coaches’ MVP as well.
Mernda’s Gulia Ceravolo claimed the women’s medal and teammate Awek Dut took home the Coaches’ MVP.
Ivanhoe’s Lauren Henderson was crowned the top netballer, winning the Section 1 best-and-fairest with 17 votes.
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