With the season done and dusted, Birdsville management brought forward the annual awards night so the boys could head off on their end of season trip asap. Perhaps not the smartest idea to run it at the end of Mad Monday, but so far so good. To kick the night off, retirees Jonathan Brown and Brent Moloney were presented with special awards to thank them for their service to the club. Tonight also saw the crowning of this season's Best & Fairest. Given the complete lack of consistency shown by the majority of the playing list this year, it was no great surprise to anyone involved that the voting was dominated by three players; Brad Ebert, Marc Murphy and Adam Treloar. The three were pretty close for the first 12 rounds before Murphy rattled home with six straight scores over 100 to pull away for an easy win. So a big congratulation to Marc on a well-deserved win. He joins Brad Ebert (2012) and Ben McEvoy (2013) as winners of ‘the BrownDog' (aka the Jonathan Brown Medal). Final votes were as follows: 47 Murphy 37 Treloar 35 Ebert 21 Enright 18 Cloke 15 Houli, McEvoy 8 Jetta 7 Clarke, Green 6 Howlett, Mayne, White 4 Brown, T McDonald, Rischitelli, Wells 3 Moloney, Patfull, Rich 1 L McDonald, Ray
A surprising start to the season for the Battlers who find themselves 3rd on the ladder at the mid-season break. But with a couple of very fortunate wins so far, there are concerns that the 8-2 record may over-inflate fan expectations and gloss over a lack of both depth and quality on the list. However, the run home is tough to say the least and fans are likely to see the win/loss columns even up in the coming weeks. The B&F leader board (at R10) 25 Ebert 22 Treloar 17 Houli, Murphy 16 TMac 13 Rischitelli 11 Jetta 10 Enright 4 Cloke, Mayne, White 3 Taylor 2 Howlett 1 Clarke, Green
Battlers B&F Given the Battlers data loss issues during the offseason (and concerns about the bias toward midfielders in the voting system), the coach has disregarded the halfway leader board above and awarded the 2015 edition of the B&F solely based on ‘gut feel’. Adam Treloar and Marc Murphy battled hard throughout the year and were worthy of consideration for the award. Brad Ebert’s poor 2nd half of the season almost erased the memories of his outstanding start to the year, while Michael Rischitelli surprised no one more than the coach with a very solid campaign. Lewis Jetta and Chris Mayne fought the good fight up forward, but didn’t have a lot of friends in a line that was a constant source of concern during the season. The defensive line, though, was a clear standout for Birdsville in 2015 as the Battlers finished the year with the 3rd, 4th and 5th highest scoring defenders on aggregate. So it only seemed right that Tom McDonald, Bachar Houli and Old Man Enright featured prominently in the award. There was little to separate the three but, in the end, the Battlers B&F for 2015 went to Tom McDonald. Tom had a breakout year for the Battlers and was also a runaway winner of the Most Improved Player award. The top 5 in the B&F were: 1. Tom McDonald 2. Bachar Houli 3. Corey Enright 4. Adam Treloar 5. Marc Murphy While the finale was a disappointing end to the year, my congratulations to all the players on a terrific season. The Battlers now are looking forward to the upcoming trade and draft period as we try to bounce back from our near miss in the GF. So happy trading to all and I hope to catch up with a few of you to discuss a trade or two. Now, where do I find a forward....
Well another year done and dusted for the Battlers. It was a funny old season as the Battlers went from 3-0 to 3-4 and then to 7-4 before finishing the regular season at 10-7. Despite only posting 6 scores that the coach gave a pass mark for, we did enough to scrape into 7th place and secure another finals birth. Week 1 of the finals saw the Battlers yet again punching above their weight at the pointy end of the season. A season high score for the Battlers ensured we caused one of the upsets of the year defeating the dominant force of the regular season, the mighty Chooks of Foul Bay. Week 2 saw a replay of last year’s GF – but sadly also a return to reality for the Battlers – as we were bumped off by the Lefties on their way to a second straight title. Given the current shape of the list – particularly the almost non-existent fwd line – and a clear shift in list management strategy towards the future, making the finals, let alone the prelim, was a bit of a surprise. Battlers B&F This year’s B&F saw the introduction of a new 'weighted average' system to try and introduce a greater degree of fairness into the voting. Lachie Hunter had a solid first season with the Battlers to finish 5th as he more than justified the list management team's decision to bring him in. Former Battler, now Leftie, Daniel Wells was in front as we hit the byes after a great first part of the year in which he polled votes in 8 of the 10 games he played. But then, despite Wells coming into the bye off of 3 straight BOGs, the coach made the somewhat controversial call to trade both he and fellow original Battler, Marc Murphy. Despite having no opportunity to poll further votes, Wells hung on to finish 4th overall, showing just how good he was for us this year. Battlers management are delighted that we were able to facilitate a trade for Daniel that resulted in him becoming an ORFFA premiership player. Congratulations to Daniel from everyone at the Battlers! The top 3 were the clear standouts over the course of the whole year and were the only Battlers to poll in 10 or more games. Tom McDonald backed up last year's B&F win with another quality season. Tom overcame an up and down start to the year to poll in 13 of his 19 games and secure a 3rd place finish. Adam Treloar had a great year, scoring 100 or more in 14 of his 19 appearances - 12 of which earned him votes, including a team high 5 BOGs. But it wasn’t quite enough to get him over the line as he finished a well-deserved 2nd. Adam looks likely to be our midfield leader for many years to come. And now to this year’s winner. Congratulations to the 2016 Battlers Best & Fairest: Corey Enright Corey had a fantastic season as defied all odds – and Father Time – to record only the second 100+ avg of his career and his first since 2008. He was a model of consistency, recording votes in 14 of his 18 games and, remarkably, he may yet go around for a 4th season with the Battlers despite rapidly approaching his 35th birthday. After picking him up for a bag of chips (pick 50) in the 2014 preseason with hopes of getting one good year out of him, he has been a super consistent performer during his time at Birdsville and has missed only 4 games since his arrival. Incredibly, his avg has been trending up over his 3 seasons here – from 89 in 2014, to 95.6 in 2015 and 100.8 this year. A thoroughly deserving winner! Final standings: 51 Enright 43 Treloar 34 T McDonald 30 Wells* 24 Hunter 21 Houli 17 Weller 13 Mayne 12 Dea 11 Ebert 10 McEvoy 4 Taylor 3 Cutler, Lonergan, Murphy* 2 Lloyd, L McDonald, Rischitelli Votes awarded each week on 5-4-3-2-1 basis. *player no longer at the club
Just realised how lazy I’ve been in not posting the B&F results from last season. Apologies to anyone who’s been dying with anticipation to know the outcome. Anyway, the 2017 Battlers B&F winner is…. Tom McDonald. TMac was one of only four Battlers to play in all 17 games last year and received B&F votes in 13 of those games, including maximum votes on four occasions. This is his second B&F having also won it in 2015, and he split those with a 3rd place finish in 2016. Congratulations, Tom. Jarrod Witts and Connor Blakely, both in their first full seasons with the club, finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively (the list management team had a bit of a head wobble going with that outcome) with Adam Treloar and Lewy Taylor rounding out the top 5. The top 10, including votes, were as follows: Tom McDonald - 43 votes Jarrod Witts - 34 Connor Blakely - 30 Adam Treloar - 29 Lewy Taylor - 24 Luke McDonald - 23 Blake Acres - 17 Luke Ryan - 12 Lachie Hunter - 12 Tom Cutler - 11
2017 saw the Battlers miss the finals for the first time ever. This was not an unexpected outcome given the list management over the previous year and a half, with a conscious decision made to trade out some older, established best 15 players for some younger players that (we hope) have some potential. Won’t lie though - it was a bit of a kick in the arse to watch most of those who were traded out enjoy either career best years or their best year in quite some time. They can all get . Anyway, on to the 2018 squad. The offseason saw 7 players moved on, replaced by 7 new (victims?) faces. Out go: Jackson Ramsay - piss off Tom Sheridan - the perennial preseason champion. We weren’t going to put up with it anymore. Jesse Lonergan - had high hopes when we drafted you, but it just didn’t work out for you here. Sam Lloyd - not getting a game and not scoring that well when you do Myles Poholke: Traded with some reluctance. We wish you well. Jordan Cunico: Injuries and a deep Cats list made it a fairly easy choice. And last, but by no means least: Curtly Hampton - It was a thrill to have you here but now our association ends. You have brought nothing but pain, penury and strife into our days. I wish you good fortune as you assault poor Tracey and her Packers with your presence. GTFO. (Now watch him play 20 games this year with some BS avg ) On to the positives, and the ‘ins’ for 2018 are: Acquired via trade Ryan Clarke, 20yo, Def Harrison Wigg, 21, Mid Eric Hipwood, 20, Fwd Draft selections Adam Cerra, 18, Mid (pick 5) Dylan Moore, 18, Mid (pick 21) Brayden Crossley, 18, Ruck (pick 30) Tom Doedee, 21, Def (pick 41) This leaves us with the following squad for 2018: DEF: Tom McDonald (D/F), Luke McDonald (D/M), Tom Cutler, Nick Robertson, Luke Ryan, Tom Doedee, Ryan Clarke, Alex Witherden MID: Adam Treloar, Lachie Hunter, Dom Sheed, Connor Blakely, Harrison Wigg, Kobe Mutch, Dylan Moore, Adam Cerra FWD: Mav Weller, Lewy Taylor, Blake Acres (F/M), Jake Barrett, Kayne Turner, Luke Partington, Harry McKay, Eric Hipwood, Josh Battle RUCK: Tom Nicholls, Jarrad Witts, Brayden Crossley The coach has managed to buy himself a year without pressure or expectation as the youth focus takes its inevitable time to (hopefully) bear fruit. Management are just hoping that some of the kids we’ve mortgaged the farm for show some signs to suggest that in a couple of years they might be alright. All the best for a great 2018 season.
Apparently it's been a year since I've visited this thread. Lol. Battlers B&F results for 2018 The top 10, including votes, were: Luke Ryan - 30 Jarrod Witts - 29 Alex Witherden - 25 Adam Treloar - 24 Tom McDonald - 22 Tom Doedee - 22 Lachlan Hunter - 22 Tom Cutler - 18 Lewis Taylor - 13 Blake Acres - 11 So congrats to Luke on winning his first B&F - and fingers crossed he decides to play on from the goal square on more than the 0.9% he did last year! Think of your stats, lad, think of your stats!!
Battlers B&F results for 2019 The top 10 in this year's B&F, including votes, were: Adam Treloar - 48 Luke Ryan - 36 Jarrod Witts - 34 Dom Sheed - 27 Lachie Hunter - 25 Blake Acres - 16 Harry McKay - 14 Alex Witherden - 13 Adam Cerra - 7 Connor Blakely / Eric Hipwood - 6 Finally a B&F win for Adam, having twice being the bridesmaid in this award in previous seasons. The only original Battler left on the list, he was touted as a future B&F winner in the inaugural ORFFA season and enjoyed a career-best season to take out the award comfortably from last year's winner, Luke Ryan. Adam has been a model of consistency in his time with the Battlers, with this year making it seven top 4 finishes from his eight seasons.