With 2018 having had a known end date for a while now, we here at Solomon’s Soldiers conducted our best and fairest award ceremony last night.
Points were awarded based on top 5 players in each loss (10-8-6-4-2), however in each win we decided to give the points to the top 7 players (14-12-10-8-6-4-2), thus playing well and dragging the team over the line was worth more. In the bye rounds we gave points to the top 6 players. If there was a tie the votes were split between the positions (so a tie for first would net each player 9 votes) – we did investigate using the Buscumb method to decide these, however in the spirit of laziness we went this way.
A big congratulations to our young gun Patrick Cripps on taking out his first “You’re the best boy” award as our team best and fairest for 2018, with 109 votes. Cripps polled votes in 14 of our 20 games, including 4 best on grounds. He also ended the year on 11 Dangergawn votes – surprisingly not even the most from our team. In his thank you speech he acknowledged the work of coach Schonfeldt at the Shire Scourers in developing his game to where it is now, and wished them well for their upcoming finals campaign.
Second was our 2 time winner in Lachie Neale (93 votes), who was fighting for first right up to the final 2 rounds before Patrick went on his merry way averaging 122 across his final 5 games. Lachie was the picture of consistency, polling in more games than Cripps (15), but with one less best on ground and less monster scores. Lachie has been a bright light on a rough few years here at the Soldier’s; however he’s looking forward to the future with all the up and coming stars ready to join him in the midfield in 2019.
Rounding out the top 3 was our gallant ruckman Jarrod Witts with 85 votes. He only polled in 9 games, but within that was 4 best on ground performances – enough to also earn him 12 Dangergawn votes to be ahead of club champion Cripps. His position in the top 3 was looking shaky with Angus Brayshaw going on a rampage mid-year, however true to form another BOG followed by a second place in rounds 18-19 kept his position on the podium safe.
The rest of our top 10 went as follows
4. Angus Brayshaw (79 votes) – After missing the first 4 games has entrenched himself into best 22 both at the Demons and here at the Soldiers – even though it’s likely to be midfield only in 2019. Had 5 BOG’s to lead the team in this stat.
5. Marcus Bontempelli (34) – A mid-year recruit in a trade with Mark went to work with 16 votes in his first 3 games in our colours, however injury stopped any momentum.
6. Jordan De Goey (33) – Almost a top 5 finish for the Collingwood young gun, and a big future lined up with the Soldiers.
7. Christian Petracca (28) – A couple of weeks out didn’t help, but a reliable showing with more to come next year.
8. Jack Martin (23) – Another forward that had some time out with injury – hoping for a healthy run in 2019
=9. Matt Scharenberg (22) – An amazing run from rounds 6-11 literally netted all his votes. An unfortunate ACL injury has dashed his hopes of repeating in 2019, but we wish him all the best for his recovery
=9. Hugh McCluggage (22) – A promising year from the second year player acquired in the preseason from the Love Sparkles. With the way his 2018 ended, there is no ceiling in place for what he could bring to the table in 2019. We can’t wait.
Other awards
Best first year player – given to a player who played his first game for the Soldiers this year – regardless of other experience
Angus Brayshaw
Rookie of the year – given to a player never having played an AFL game before this year
Andrew Brayshaw
Draft steal of the year – given to the player with the most upside relative to his draft position
Darcy Byrne-Jones (75)/Jaidyn Stephenson (51)