Southern league Division 1 medal winner Chris Carey eyes a return to the VFL
After his stunning 39-vote performance to win the competition best and fairest, the star ruckman is likely to have another dash at the state league.
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Champion East Malvern and Southern league ruckman Chris Carey is eyeing a return to the VFL in 2020.
The 25-year-old polled a remarkable 39 votes to win the SFNL Division 1 best and fairest, the Ellis Medal, last Friday.
Carey, the son of former Essendon defender Steve Carey, earned votes in 15 of his 18 matches, including nine best-on-ground performances.
It prompted Southern league CEO Lee Hartman to declare: “He’s definitely up there as one of the best community players I’ve seen. He should probably be playing at a higher level.’’
Carey spent 2017 and ’18 on Port Melbourne’s list, winning the Frank Johnson Tribute Medal on debut in his first season at the Borough.
“I’m thinking about it,’’ Carey said last night when asked about the VFL.
“At the end of last year I travelled for a fair bit, and I was going from Warragul to Melbourne three nights a week and that sort of took a bit out of me.
“In my second year (at Port) I probably didn’t get the opportunities I thought I should, so I was a bit turned off it (VFL) for a year. I had this year off just to relax but I’m thinking I’ll have another go somewhere.’’
As for his medal win, Carey said he was shocked by vote tally.
“Definitely didn’t expect to poll that highly,’’ he said.
“I thought I had one of my more consistent years but certainly didn’t think I could poll in 15 games. There were plenty of other players in our side who could have polled ahead of me. Yeah, pretty shocked, but grateful.’’
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The league best and fairest could go with the medal Carey won as Southern’s best representative player this year.
He was runner-up with 25 votes in last year’s Ellis count.
Unfortunately for East Malvern Carey missed two finals owing to an injury to his right foot.
He pulled up sore after the qualifying final against Cheltenham and spent the next two weeks on crutches.
Carey is still unsure what caused the problem and was visiting a specialist yesterday.