Walking away with awards

By Stuart Teather
BERWICK cleaned up at the Victorian Women’s Football League (VWFL) awards night last Friday.
Katie Loynes was a joint winner of the Kate Lawrence medal for the league’s best and fairest with Scoresby’s Mel Kuys.
Aimee Buchan won the Rohenna Young medal for kicking the most goals, with her season tally of 38 majors.
Wickers coach Leeann Gill said the awards came as a surprise to the girls because they played two less matches than the other teams due to forfeits.
“(Katie) didn’t give herself a chance of polling well, whereas I thought she and Mel Kuys from Scoresby were the two best midfielders in the entire South East competition by a mile,” Ms. Gill said.
“She just runs all day, she’s strong in the packs, she’s got good skills, she was one of the five Berwick players that made it into the Vic Country side.
“I reckon if she could just believe in herself a little bit more, she’d go places.”
On Buchan, Gill said leading the league in goal kicking was all the more impressive because she wasn’t the only target in the forward line.
“We were winning by a fair bit throughout the season, so we tried to get everyone to kick a goal … she did a really good job, given she missed three games and we were sharing the goals around.
“She’s a good lead, a good mark, she’s got a bit of a funny kicking style … but it goes through the goals and that’s all you want.”
The awards were bittersweet for the Wickers, with the side smashing every team they faced during the regular season before losing to Scoresby in the grand final. Berwick could still be promoted to the Premier Division, with the club holding talks with the VWFL.