Dove takes top award

By Brad Kingsbury
STAR Doveton ruckman Russell Gabriel took out the Norm Walker Medal for the Casey Cardinia league’s fairest and best player for 2009 on the last vote of the night at Monday’s MPNFL vote-count dinner.
Gabriel was among the leaders that included team-mate Ryan Hendy, Berwick captain Andrew Tuck and young Cranbourne star Ryan Jones from the half way mark of the exciting count.
The former Dandenong Stingrays captain polled three votes against Tooradin in round 15 to take his tally to 18 and then held on as Hendy (17), Jones (17), Tuck (15) and Narre Warren ace Michael Collins (15) closed the gap.
Gabriel was among several star recruits to transfer to the Casey Cardinia League this year.
He narrowly missed being drafted after two seasons with the Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup side in 2006 and 2007, and then spent 2008 playing with VFL club Frankston Dolphins before relocating to the Doves this year. “I didn’t really give myself a show because I played most of the year with an injury,” he said. “I liked my time at Frankston but Doveton was more career-orientated and they organised a plumbing apprenticeship for me and had me working straight away.”
As far as developing his football and having another crack at the higher level, Gabriel was non-committal and said he was in no rush. “I’m not sure. I’m still only young and I think I’ll just see how things go at the moment. I’ve got plenty of time.”
Several players who many thought would poll well finished further down the list than expected including Greg Tivendale, Luke Walker and Robbie Taylor.
The Bill Williamson Medal for the reserves was wrongly presented to Devon Meadows’ Tommy Hayes, after a technical glitch which failed to identify that Hayes had actually been suspended during the season.
Hayes was reported for striking in the Panthers’ round 12 game against Pakenham and suspended for two weeks by the tribunal.
That suspension should have ended his quest for back-to-back Bill Williamson medals, but it wasn’t recognised by the league’s voting system.
Hayes and club officials alerted MPNFL officials to the mistake on Monday night, prompting an investigation on Tuesday morning.
Beaconsfield veteran and coach Scott Mather, who finished second in the count, will now take the award.
Cranbourne wingman Ryan Jones secured the Gazette Young Gun award, ahead of a super-talented field of future champions.
The 18-year-old was named as the captain of the club’s under-18s this year but never had the opportunity to lead the junior side on field after starting in the seniors and quickly becoming a vital part of the young Eagle side that ended the home-and-away season in third place.