Roy McGuinness Medal Preview

SOUTH Fremantle’s reserves once again played finals during the 2016 WAFL season and there were a host of players who had tremendous campaigns to be in the mix for the Roy McGuinness Medal as the fairest and best player.

The WJ Hughes Medal dinner will be held this Friday night at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in the Griff John Function Centre.

Coming off winning two of the last three reserves premierships, South Fremantle again had a strong 2016 season finishing up in third position on the ladder.

Dave Ingraham Memorial Medal Preview
WJ Hughes Medal Preview

While the finals series led to defeats at the hands of eventual premiers Claremont and East Fremantle, it was still a strong performance by the Tony Walters-coached outfit particularly with the depth of the Bulldogs stretched to the limit with all three grades playing in the finals.

Recent reserves fairest and best winners at South Fremantle include Brendan Verrier, Lewis Harvey and Anthony Collica all who have played plenty of league football so the winner of 2016 could be an indication of someone with plenty of league football in their future.

There are no shortage of outstanding candidates either to win the Roy McGuinness Medal for 2016 including Jake Florenca, Tim Stewart, Noah Strom, Brandon Donaldson, Matthew Ah Siu, Billy Collier, Jesse Mirco, Bailey Matera, James Laurino, Shaun Bewick, Dylan Main and plenty more.

Florenca earned a taste of league football and certainly didn’t appear out of place and in his 19 games in the reserves he was tremendous averaging 22.8 possessions. He was runner-up in colts fairest and best voting last year.

Mirco, Strom and Collard were the three players to take part in all 21 of the Bulldogs’ reserves matches in 2016.

Mirco had a standout season kicking 40 goals while averaging 14.1 disposals and 5.8 marks a game.

Collard graduated from a strong colts career to have a good season for South Fremantle largely off half-back averaging 14.0 touches.

Strom, meanwhile, was forced to carry much of the ruck load with Josh Branchi starting the season in the league side and then having his year ended early through injury.

Whether it was in the ruck or forward, he made strong contributions ending up averaging 13.3 possessions, 4.3 marks and 11.6 hit outs while also kicking 11 goals.

Lucas Spithoven is another who took part in 19 games in the reserves for South Fremantle this year so could poll well along with Ah Siu who was colts fairest and best back in 2013. During 2016, he was again a strong and consistent performer contributing 20.2 disposals a game.

Stewart might have played just the 13 games having delivered some strong league football, but he was a standout with 23.3 possessions and 5.9 tackles.

Collier is another one who performed consistently all season in the reserves averaging 18.3 disposals.

Laurino is another who played some encouraging league football in 2016 but in the reserves he was tremendous averaging 20.5 possessions his 16 games.

Main might have played just eight games in the reserves but was outstanding averaging 28.1 possessions while Bewick also compiled 31.4 disposals in his seven matches.

Coming off being the colts fairest and best winner, Donaldson got a taste of league football in 2016 while also being a standout in the reserves kicking 38 goals in his 16 games as a small forward.

It will be a bumper night to celebrate the 2016 season for the South Fremantle Football with the league, reserves and colts teams all taking part in finals action.

On top of the McGuinness Medal being presented for the reserves fairest and best player, all the league and colts award winners will be handed out on the evening along with much more.