NFNL Rosbrook Gannon Medal Preview

THE Northern Football Netball League is rocking a new name for its Best and Fairest night this upcoming Wednesday, with the Rosbrook Gannon Medal night recognising the impact of Diamond Creek’s netball great, Stacey Gannon, alongside NFNL legend Frank Rosbrook.

The event will be held at Flemington Racecourse, and of course, the North Central Review will be there covering the event.

North Central Review journalist Michael Thompson runs the numbers over the potential candidates for each football division, men’s and women’s.

MEN’S DIVISION 1

For me, this appears to be a race in three between Heidelberg’s Luke Bunker, Banyule’s Jean-Luc Velissaris and Montmorency’s Nash Holmes.

These three players have been the class of the competition, as the below table shows after the final round of the home-and-away season.

Bunker and Holmes are the heartbeats of their respective engine rooms at Heidelberg and Montmorency. They make things happen.

Bunker has had a brilliant year, a clearance machine that always gets things started.

Holmes is an incredible story of perseverance – one which saw his footy career – and life – at risk after an infection.

Velissaris immediately showed his quality after a lengthy VFL career at Preston, and helped Banyule finish off the season as one of the hottest teams in the competition.

I think JLV’s biggest advantage is he won’t have as many teammates take votes off him – suspect Heidelberg will have Sam Gilmore and Dylan Clarke take some votes, while Holmes might have to settle with Stefan Uzelac pinching some votes off him too.

Coaches’ votes will also come out just before the big night – it will be an interesting count in that one too.

BEST FROM OTHER CLUBS (10+ GAMES)

Bundoora: Isaac McMillan (17 games; 23.5 disposals, 7.7 clearances, 0.5 goals, 4.5 score involvements, 112.1 ranking points per game)

Eltham: Alexander Bellchambers (16 games, 22.3 disposals, 6.6 clearances, 0.2 goals, 4.9 score involvements, 97.5 ranking points per game)

Greensborough: Jackson Davies (18 games; 18.9 disposals, 0.1 clearances, 0.1 goals, 2.4 score involvements, 99.3 ranking points per game) – suspicion is Tom Mitchell takes the votes

North Heidelberg: Angus McLennan (17 games; 18.3 disposals, 2.9 clearances, 0.9 goals, 4.1 score involvements, 100.8 ranking points per game)

West Preston Lakeside: Aleksandr D’Arro (18 games; 25.2 disposals, 6.9 clearances, 0.1 goals, 2.8 score involvements, 108.5 ranking points per game)

My prediction: Velissaris 1st, Bunker 2nd, Holmes 3rd.

MEN’S DIVISION 2

A terrific season of footy will deserve a terrific vote count – but my suspicion is that this one will land a best-and-fairest at Garvey Oval.

Old Paradians’ Connor McDonald has been absolutely breathtaking this season. Someone who has absolutely torn the ranking point system to shreds in the division. I don’t need to talk about it, just observe the table below from the home-and-away campaign. 25 disposals and 13 clearances per game are outrageous numbers for the Raiders’ linchpin.

BEST FROM OTHER CLUBS (10+ GAMES)

Lower Plenty: Jordan Smith (18 games, 23.6 disposals, 7.1 clearances, 0.2 goals, 4.9 score involvements, 100.5 ranking points per game) – suspicion is Jack Madgen takes the votes)

South Morang: Nathan Stefanile (17 games, 17 disposals, 8.6 clearances, 0.1 goals, 4.6 score involvements, 109.9 ranking points per game)

Thomastown: Lawrence Lo Piccolo (18 games, 18.9 disposals, 4.9 clearances, 0.2 goals, 4.2 score involvements, 97.1 score involvements per game

Whittlesea: Thomas Falls (15 games, 24.9 disposals, 7.8 clearances, 0.3 goals, 4.2 score involvements, 107.2 ranking points per game)

From a Whittlesea perspective, while Thomas Falls leads the club in ranking points, Bailey Robinson’s impact in the guts is hard to ignore. He finished second in the coaches’ MVP award for the division and will surely be around the mark after sharing the division 3 award with Ivanhoe’s Kane Veliou last year.

South Morang’s best chance will be Nathan Stefanile. The big man is incredibly impactful with his ability to grab the ball out of the ruck and clear, creating instant headaches for opposition defenders watching the ball go in with speed. He averaged 17 disposals and nine clearances this season.

I suspect players such as Northcote Park’s Jordan Perry, Fitzroy Stars’ Kain Proctor (although suspended) and St Mary’s Huon MacGibbon will also be around the mark as well.

Coaches MVP Top Five

Connor McDonald (Old Paradians) – 82 votes

Bailey Robinson (Whittlesea) – 69 votes

Oliver Parks (Panton Hill) – 64 votes

Kain Proctor (Fitzroy Stars) – 63 votes

Jordan Perry (Northcote Park) – 60 votes

My prediction: McDonald 1st, Proctor 2nd, Perry 3rd

MEN’S DIVISION 3

Harder to make a bit of a read on division 3 with no stats kept on the old Premier Data this year, but there is a clear standout in my eyes.

Ivanhoe’s Riley Loton was exceptional throughout the year, and many good judges believe he is the man to beat.

That includes one of the men in the following table, Alex Federico, who told me post-grand final that he ‘should be winning it’.

ALSO IN THE MIX (10+ GAMES)

Epping: Corey Middleton (16 games, 7 goals, 9 bests)

Heidelberg West: James Condello (14 games, 9 goals, 9 bests)

Lalor: Hayden Hunt (15 games, 3 goals, 11 bests)

Kilmore: Chris Barton (16 games, 11 goals, 9 bests)

Old Eltham Collegians: Connor Pilatti (16 games, 2 goals, 11 bests)

Reservoir: Joshua Grabowski (16 games, 12 goals, 10 bests)

Kilmore should expect a number of votes from Chris Barton, who led what is a young team superbly this year. Hard to ignore his overall impact, although I also look forward to seeing which of the youngsters will also poll well. I anticipate Caleb Newport could get a few votes as well.

Laurimar should, I suspect, be well-represented by Jesse Donaldson. The league champion has had a sensational first year at the Power and was basically best on for the Power in every game before a cruelly timed hamstring injury. My gut feel is he will push Loton all the way. Expect Luke Wilson to be in the votes too – great season.

Mernda are an interesting team to read vote-wise – they are similar to Kilmore in a sense where it is the sum of its parts. I would have suspected Billy Morrison could have been a contender until suspended, but he should still poll quite well. James Sekulovski should be polling some decent votes, having taken over a number of games, particularly after shifting to more of a forward role, while Josh Mazzarella should be around the mark too.

Others who will be there include Watsonia’s Nathan Hallyburton – great player, Federico and Reservoir’s Josh Grabowski. It will be one of the more intriguing counts of the night, but hard to go past the Coaches MVP top three as the top three in this division too.

Coaches MVP top five

Riley Loton (Ivanhoe) – 106 votes

Jesse Donaldson (Laurimar) – 88 votes

Nathan Hallyburton (Watsonia) – 65 votes

Alex Federico (Ivanhoe) – 60 votes

Josh Mazzarella (Mernda)/Joshua Grabowski (Reservoir) – 58 votes

My prediction: Loton 1st, Donaldson 2nd, Hallyburton 3rd.

WOMEN’S DIVISION 1

An exceptionally tricky division to pick from here. This will be a very close count, with St Mary’s, Eltham and Montmorency one would suspect to be well-represented.

There was not much in it between the top five vote-getters in the Coaches MVP:

Coaches MVP top five:

Kiara Delia (St Mary’s) – 61 votes

Mary Robinson (Eltham) – 55 votes

Michaela Molenberg (Eltham) – 55 votes

Emmison Zealley (St Mary’s) – 49 votes

Kira Lemire (Montmorency)/Lauren Brazzale (Lower Plenty) – 45 votes

On paper, it appears the top three of Delia, Robinson and Molenberg will be in the mix, however, what scale of vote-taking each of the St Mary’s and Eltham players will also partake in will also be fascinating.

It’s where someone like Lemire could come in and pinch the award, while I would also expect Monty teammate Molly McErlain could also be in the frame as well.

It’s going to be an interesting count for sure.

My prediction: Robinson 1st, Delia 2nd, Lemire 3rd.

WOMEN’S DIVISION 2

Another fantastic count on the way – there should be plenty of contenders out of this one.

There was only three votes in it from what was a runaway top two in the Coaches MVP:

Coaches MVP top five:

Isabel Young (West Preston-Lakeside) – 86 votes

Devony Hoare (Fitzroy Stars) – 83 votes

Chiara Nardo (Kilmore) – 60 votes

Ruby Moore (Panton Hill) – 56 votes

Casey Clough (Ivanhoe) – 54 votes

On paper it appears Devony Hoare is a great chance for Fitzroy Stars. They do have an exceptionally even team, so it will be interesting to see the vote spread. One person not on the list above who I actually think may steal the show for the Stars however is Amina Keegan. She led the goalkicking this year – 74 goals – and created an unbelievable personal highlight package. I suspect she will get maximum votes in a lot more games than people expect.

Kilmore’s best chances of getting votes will belong to Chiara Nardo and Jenaya Stewart. Both girls had a tremendous season. I think Nardo will be someone who could potentially be in the top three in the count, while Stewart will also earn plenty of votes.

West Preston’s Young will obviously be up there as Coaches MVP, and I suspect one of Clough or Uwland will be there as well, depending on the Ivies’ vote spread.

I suspect there will be a lot of players within five votes of one another on the night, so this could be a call I very easily get wrong.

My prediction: Young 1st, Clough 2nd, Keegan 3rd

WOMEN’S DIVISION 3

I suspect this will be more of a straightforward top three, but you never know with how the umpires see the game compared to the coaches.

I base this off the way the Coaches MVP played out:

Coaches MVP top five

Nancy Cakau (Epping) – 84 votes

Audrey Steinke (Whittlesea) – 78 votes

Bentley Butler (Diamond Creek Women’s) – 67 votes

Paige Binning (Epping) – 53 votes

Charly Bandera (St Mary’s) – 53 votes

Cakau lies outside the top 10 for most times in the best for Epping but she is incredibly impactful in Epping’s midfield, and looms as a great chance. Diamond Creek’s Butler should also be there, as should St Mary’s Natalie Cora.

Whittlesea’s best chance lies with Steinke, and she is very much a chance of winning it all with the way she impacts through midfield and up forward as well – 13 games, 12 goals, a constant in the Eagles’ best and the way they played, she will be right up there. There should also be some votes for Fitzpatrick and the constantly improving Harper McPherson-Goulding as well.

Laurimar’s best chance for votes in a much-improved season lies with Campbell, who enjoyed a great season to have the most bests in the competition. However, Laurimar probably didn’t win enough games for her to be a chance. Also expect Tara Dyer to get a few votes as well.

Should be a great count, and I expect the top three of the Coaches’ MVP to be the same top three that fights for the medal. I think Whittlesea’s winning run (10 wins for Whittlesea, seven wins for Epping and five for Diamond Creek Women’s) will make all the difference, however, with a lot of dominant games thrown in to the mix.

My prediction: Steinke 1st, Cakau 2nd, Butler 3rd.