Boltz wins Jo Butland Medal in landslide at AFL Cairns awards

IMPRESSIVE Saints star Poppy Boltz is planning to use her amazingly successful AFL Cairns Women’s season as a springboard to the big time as she eyes a move to the Gold Coast.

Harry Murtough and Rowan Sparkes

6 min read

September 14, 2021 - 8:25PM

The Cairns Post

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IMPRESSIVE Saints star Poppy Boltz is planning to use her amazingly successful AFL Cairns Women’s season as a springboard to the big time as she eyes a move to the Gold Coast.

The 20-year-old cleaned up at the AFL Cairns awards night, named captain of the team of the year and claiming the coaches MVP award.

But her most notable accolade came in a landslide, with Boltz winning the coveted Jo Butland award with an impressive 31 votes, finishing 12 votes clear of Cairns City Lions’ rising star Litonya Cockatoo-Motlap.

Saints' Poppy Boltz spins away from a tackle. Picture: Brendan Radke

Boltz only missed one game this season, and tallied votes in every other game she played making the accomplishment all the more spectacular.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all, I was shocked to be honest,” Boltz said.

“There were a lot of girls it could have gone to so I’m incredibly grateful that I came away with it.

“I said to myself at the start of the year that I’d commit myself 100 per cent to footy and see what I can do and see what I can achieve.”

After participating in the Gold Coast Suns Academy earlier in her career before she was sidelined with an ankle injury, the Saints mid believes now is the time to make her move to the exposure-friendly ovals of the Gold Coast.

“I would love to pursue a footy career,” Boltz said.

“I went down there [Gold Coast] earlier this year and played a few games with Bond University (in the QAFLW) and I really liked the culture of the club so hopefully I’ll do that.

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“It’s a pretty good year to finish on … I’m at an age where I can chase it if I want it.”

Saints captain Freya Reilly believed her teammate had the chops to make it.

“She’s been amazing … I’ve been away for a fair chunk of the year and she’s really carried the girls throughout he season,” Reilly said.

“She can definitely make it. She’s got the skill, the attitude, everything.”

Boltz spent four years with the Centrals Trinity Beach Bulldogs before heading to the Saints for the past three, where she’s thrived.

While her personal success this season has been second to none, Boltz said she’d trade it for a grand final win this weekend as her team faces the Manunda Hawks.

“I would much rather win the grand final as a team than my awards as an individual on Sunday night,” she said.

Saints and the Hawks face off for the flag at Cazalys Stadium at 12.15pm on Saturday.

BRANDT REDISCOVERS LOVE FOR THE GAME

Liam Brandt was ready to take a break from footy.

Falling out of love with the game as he struggled to find a balance between it and work after a move to the Far North at the start of the year, the Port Douglas on-baller did not know if he could finish the season after three rounds.

Now he is a joint Crathern Medallist, after he and Centrals Trinity Beach midfielder Mark Horne were named as AFL Cairns’ best and fairest players on Sunday night.

It was the first time in Crathern Medal history that joint winners were crowned, with both players finishing the season on 22 votes.

Lured north by brother-in-law and Crocs assistant coach Daniel Moore, Brandt has rediscovered his passion for the sport, which was reflected in his performances throughout the rest of the season.

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The former Northern Football League player said he would not have had the year he did if it was not for Crocs coach Brad Cooper.

“I probably wasn’t overly interested in playing footy but coming up here it was more just a social thing to get to know people,” he said.

“I actually said to Coops after round 3, ‘to be honest with you, I don’t think I want to play footy, it’s something I do for fun and a bit of a hobby and I’m not enjoying it that much at the minute’.

“I’d come up here and moved away from my family, so was probably missing them a little bit, and was really busy with the work that I’d started.

“Coops was really supportive and said there’s just two weeks to the bye, just get to the bye and take a step back, have a run around and a kick if you want to, but if you’re not feeling like it’s something you want to do, that’s fine.

“The minute he took that stress and pressure off me, it made life a lot easier.

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“I started to enjoy football, I was hanging to play on the weekends, and I guess from that point on it’s shown – even in the vote count (on Sunday night), I don’t think I polled a vote in the first three rounds, and after that I started to get going.”

Brandt said it was the turning point of his season.

“Footy became fun and more enjoyable, as opposed to like a second job,” he said.

“And I’ve always been one that’s above the shoulders if I’m happy and I’m enjoying footy, and the rest just takes care of itself.”

Brandt did not play a game in 2020, with Victoria’s football leagues shut down because of Covid-19.

“I played a practice match with Port in March and that was exactly a year since I last played footy,” he said.

“Obviously moving up here – the humidity, the weather – it was different, it was definitely hard.

“I remember playing the first three or four games and I was cramping and I couldn’t get through the game.

“It just took a bit of getting used to and adapting I guess.”

Horne’s triumph a sign of Doggies’ growth

Centrals Trinity Beach on-baller Mark Horne believes his joint Crathern Medal triumph is more a reflection of how far the Bulldogs have come as a club over the past 12 months than an individual accolade.

“We only won four games last year and a lot of the time we were getting beaten by close to 100 points, which makes it a lot harder to get a kick,” he said.

“This year, we recruited pretty heavily and picked up probably a dozen new players that are good players, and it’s a lot easier getting kicks with good players around you.”

Horne and Port Douglas’s Liam Brandt were named the best and fairest players in the competition after they both finished on 22 votes.

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The pair were the only players that could win the medal entering the final round of voting, with Brandt leading with 20 votes and Horne one behind.

Both players had huge days in their last games of the season, with Brandt collecting 47 disposals against Manunda Hawks, while Horne racked up a ridiculous 62 touches against North Cairns Tigers.

While they were both expected to each poll three votes, Brandt had to settle for two, with teammate Joshua Mawson picking up the three, resulting in the first tied result in the Crathern’s history.

Horne said he was far from confident heading into the last round of voting.

“I knew I played pretty well the last game, but I knew he did as well, and they played Manunda so it was likely he’d get the three votes,” he said.

“I think from all reports he was pretty stiff not to get the three votes actually.”

Brandt admitted he was “surprised” to get two votes against the Hawks.

“I missed a few goals that game, which might’ve hurt me,” he said.

“At the end of the day, you can’t be too greedy – to win a Crathern Medal is a privilege and a massive honour.”